The Final Say
by ZeroMoon1129
Summary: SASUSAKU THE LAST with some twists... A year after The Last, Naruto, Sakura & Sai were searching for a cure for an unknown illness in Konoha and unexpectedly met Sasuke. In midst of Sasuke's realization, Sakura got kidnapped & a bigger conspiracy was about to take place upon her & Konoha. Will his feelings reach her before the disaster or will fate have its own way for the two?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to the author, Kishimoto Masashi.**

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><p>Walking along a path next to a slim river, Naruto, Sai and Sakura were returning from a one-week mission in protecting a Fire Daimyo relative from bandits. The young relative with a princess syndrome left quite a terrible impression to the whole team as she kept calling them 'Whiskers', 'Apple', and 'Clay' throughout the entire journey. Since then, the blonde continued his temperament after the mission and it worsened with the constant callings from Sai.<p>

"Naruto, it's about time to get over it?" Sakura asked.

"That's right. To think that a kid could get into your head, Dickless…."

"SHUT YOUR CRAP, SAI! THAT MIDGET IS NOTHING BUT A BRAT…!"

The sole kunoichi immediately smacked his head which actually threw his face flat on a tree for the 'noise' he has been creating for hours. With her fists together and her short hair surrounding like a halo, Sakura slowly approached Naruto with a simple smile "Another complaint, Naruto, and you'll be a day later from this very spot. UNDERSTAND?!" The blonde immediately shrank in fear in front of his former crush.

"Geez, which part did Hinata fall for you actually?!"

_"Until now, Sakura-chan, you're still this scary dattebayo….."_

While happily watching such scene between the two, a screech was heard from the sky which made Sai looked up to see a familiar hawk flying above them. Sai made a corresponding sound and the hawk with a messenger box attached around its body immediately landed on his left arm.

"Hanekawa?!" Sakura recognized one of Konoha's fastest messenger bird that moved to the Naruto's head in annoyance as Sai nonchalantly read the scroll over.

_To Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura & Sai,_

_There is an unknown illness spreading across the country in the past week and it has affected the a quarter of the village, reducing our defence forces and supplies. Tsunade-sama has listed the symptoms in a separate paper and she deduced that we would need sanshuyu as part of the cure. We believe that it is located near to the location of your completed mission, I presume. In your next mission, Sakura will lead the team in gathering the medicinal plant and bringing them back with Naruto and Sai as support. We are in need of this medicine as soon as possible. Good luck._

_From Hokage Hatake Kakashi. _

Silence surrounded the three for a moment until Naruto spoke. "To think something like this is happening in Konoha…." "_I hope everyone and Hinata are alright."_

"Guys, let's go. We have no time to waste." said Sakura.

"But we don't know where exactly the plant…."

"No worries, Sai. There is only one place where sanshuyu is. If I'm not wrong, we could reach there before dusk."

"YOSHI! Let's move it then dattebayo!" The three dashed towards a distant mountain and finally reached there quicker than expected, before sunset.

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><p>In front of them was a rundown village with several farmland animals. One can tell that little improvement has been done in the village, even appearance-wise. The three shinobis were walking around with disbelief when several villagers slowly appeared at their sights and an elder approached them.<p>

'Is there…anything we can do for you, young shinobis?'

Sakura spoke up first "Forgive us but our village is in need of the sanshuyu to overcome an unknown illness and I believe that it is growing around here. Is it true?"

"Yes. It's true but I'm afraid that you may be disappointed, young lady."

"Why is that, old man?" Naruto interrupted, without realizing Sakura's angry glare for his intrusion in the conversation.

"Only here grows the one and only sanshuyu and other rare medicinal plants. However, there are less and less of them due to the destruction caused by the previous wars and bandits stealing them. Even now, their numbers could barely heal a village even of our size due to the bad weather. I'm afraid to disappoint you, young lady."

Naruto and Sai expressed their disappointment but Sakura spoke with a voice of greater determination "It's alright. Could you show me the plants?"

The elder agreed and requested a female villager to lead Sakura to the location of the sanshuyu, leaving the two guys behind.

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><p>Naruto and Sai decided to follow other villagers to leave their bags and help the village with their restoration. As their guide brought them into a house which they said to host any lost travellers or a 'guesthouse', there are several mats laid out with curtains on the wall, acting as separators between the mats. One of them was notably occupied.<p>

Sai asked their guide of the identity of the occupier.

"Ah, it is a fine young traveller who arrived here yesterday. Yah, he is a great help here. This man helped us constructing some of the houses here and taught self-defence moves to some of the boys here."

'Is that so? Em? Naruto?'

As he turned around, he found the blonde to be visibly shocked as the latter asked 'Can you tell me where exactly is this person?'

'Eh, if I'm not wrong, he is now in the mountain collecting food and herbs with the children and two elders there. What's wrong? Is he someone you know?"

"Ahh. Very well." Naruto smirked at a familiar object next to the mat as Sai confusingly looked at him.

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><p>Sakura disappointedly looked at the dying greenery in the dense forest where the sanshuyu is located. The medicinal plant was either yellow or dried up, though there were about less than ten healthy stems. Without hesitation, the medical ninja plucked the fragile plants out of their core and placed them carefully in her bag.<p>

"_Weird, to think that the weather could do such damage to the sanshuyu…." "_Is there any other places we can find the sanshuyu?"

The female villager who guided her anxiously replied "Ehm.. well, there are rumours that there are more in the mountain right in front of us." She pointed towards the distant, yet close mountain with the top shrouded by dark clouds. "…. but it is too dangerous for us villagers to enter and there are monsters in there."

"Monsters?"

"Hai. Sometimes at night, we could hear weird noises and dark figures there. Also, people who entered there never come back."

With her curiosity ignoring the girl's pleads to stop, Sakura slowly walked around the large perimeter of the mountain, studying it carefully for any open entrance. She did in fact found it; a dark entrance well-hidden by long vines and green bushes. Before she could walk towards it, there was a familiar feeling that she always faced as a ninja; the feeling of being watched.

Turning around quickly with a kunai pointed at her target, Sakura was stopped at her tracks by a hand holding her armed hand in place. Strangely, the grip on her hand was firm, but not endangering. Instantly, she recognized the image in front of her emerald eyes. To her, time can never erase such image of fear yet of calmness. With enough will, she voiced out a single, once favoured word in the past.

"Sasuke-kun…."

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**Hi readers! This is my first fanfiction after like 8 years, I think. Personally, I don't think my writing skills is good so hopefully you guys could get the message from the story. This story has been in my head after reading the Last spoilers (& yes, I'm one of those who is pissed off with the lack of other couples, especially Sasusaku!) & I decided to write my ideas out eventually...**

**Hope you guys enjoy it & please leave some reviews!^^ Thanks**

**P.S The sanshuyu mentioned in the story is a real plant, not made-up.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to the author, Kishimoto Masashi.**

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><p><em>Two days ago….<em>

_At the southwest of the Land of Fire, Sasuke was walking along a pathway after returning from the Land of Rivers. Aside from finding redemption, searching for any relation to Akatsuki, and aiding those in need, his latest journey was meaningful. At the Land of Rivers, he arrived at a valley with a river beneath and a huge cavern in front. The debris in the cavern showed to have a huge battle a long time as green vines started to cover the surroundings. Sasuke looked at the debris, remembering his time with Orochimaru when Kabuto discussed with the Sannin about Sasori's demise under a pink-haired kunoichi after their encounter with Team 7._

_Back then, he cared nothing but revenge. However, after letting everything out and with Naruto's persistence to bring him back, he wanted to see more than what meets the eye through this journey of redemption. Out of nowhere, he began to notice how much Sakura changed, on how she could fight against an Akatsuki member and be one of the best medical ninjas during the war. Yet, what astonished him was her love for him that never withers despite the wrongs he has done.  
><em>

_Closing his eyes and remembering her past confessions, he wondered whether he is worth her love. He is one who destroys and she is one who cures. He would not be able to give her the love she deserve but probably despair with his mere existence. Somehow, he could not help but to feel the urge to fulfil his promise three years ago. The urge to return to her, to return her kindness, her patience, her love. _

_Realizing that dusk was approaching, Sasuke walked away for another three hours to reach a rural village. The village was run downed and the people were in no condition to feed for themselves. He intended to hunt and stay in the woods overnight but the frail villagers insisted to serve him as a guest out of mannerism. Moved by their kindness and their story behind, Sasuke decided to stay for a few days to help restoring the village._

_Over two days, he helped doing odd jobs that were deemed impossible for old and young villagers to do so and somehow felt a sense of satisfaction after seeing their smiles, wondering whether Itachi would feel the same in his position. Knowing the obvious, he followed the children and an elderly villager to collect food, more to serve as their guard. There, he sensed a faint chakra and activated Sharingan. Looking at the familiar figure of chakra, Sasuke gasped and started to spy over the figure. He began to walk closer when a kunai was aimed towards him. With instinct, he grabbed the hand while looking with his Sharingan and Rinnegan. He could never forget those eyes that shed tears because of him and immediately thought of the name of the one he vowed not to hurt anymore._

_"Sakura"_

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><p>"Sasuke-kun…." Sakura called out softly.<p>

The time froze between the two. Who would have thought of meeting the Uchiha here out of all places? Her mouth parted without any words out and her eyes were in deep shock. The boy whom she loved for more than ten years and who promised her his return was just right in front of her, releasing his grip on her slowly. To Sasuke, those eyes never change over the years, strong and unwavering yet kind. As Sakura began to anticipate his first words when his lips started to part,…

"SAKURA-CHAN!"

Sakura turned to the excited Naruto and Sai and the blonde immediately held the Uchiha in an arm lock who glared with annoyance.

"SASUKE TEME! It's been so long! I knew it's you with that long sword of yours in the hut. Teme, not only you didn't stay in the village after destroying the meteor, you didn't come for my wedding last month! You're gonna pay for it! Oi, are you listening to me?!"

"Shutup, usuratonkachi" _"His…wedding?!" _Sasuke replied while pushing Naruto's face with his only hand, yet turning his eyes towards the kunoichi. Sai was at disbelief that the former rogue ninja was the one aiding the village. Til now, he could not help but to doubt the Uchiha's change in behaviour but also appreciate his return to Konoha that dropped the burden of Naruto and Sakura.

At the same time, Sakura was reminiscing their younger days as Team 7 after looking at Naruto and Sasuke's reunion and how he has not changed in some way before she noticed Sasuke's stare and blushed. She then snapped out when children began to approach them with baskets of plants.

"You're here, oni-chan. Who are these people?" A young girl asked.

"Real shinobis! So cool!"

"Woah your forehead mark is so pretty."

"Ne, neh, what's that scroll on your back?!"

"Is that whiskers on your face?"

The children crowded around the group with enthusiast questions and caught them off guard, except of one being reminded about a certain Fire Daimyo girl. An elderly villager appeared later and dismissed the children with her apologizes of their rude manners. When the children asked the shinobis to teach them ninjutsu, the elder refuted their requests instead which upset them. Unwilling to let the children down, Naruto shouted out, shocking everyone at their peak.

"YOSHI! Who wants to play racing game?!"

"ME! ME!" The children happily held their hands up high.

"ALRIGHT! Whoever reaches the bottom wins!"

Naruto immediately ran towards the village with the children, leaving behind the elderly villager, Sai, Sakura and Sasuke behind at awe of Naruto. The hero of the Fourth War has yet lost any of his brashness over the years, despite being married a month ago.

"Looks like Dickless lost his head again."

"Ahh….." Sakura answered while nodding. Sasuke kept quiet.

"My, my. What a cheerful young man. Let us go down as well. We'll have dinner prepared shortly for all of you."

"Thank you very much." Sai answered as they began walking together. After a few small steps, Sakura looked behind at the hidden entrance, deciding whether she should pursue to her curiosity or not. After that, Sasuke noticed Sakura looking at the mountain attentively. Before he voiced out, his replacement beat him to that.

"Sakura, it's getting dark now. Wouldn't it be better to continue the search for the sanshuyu tomorrow?"

"Ah, you guys can leave first. I need to collect more samples to bring back to Konoha."

"But young lady, it is too dangerous to stay here in the dark. Even I can't guarantee your safety here."

Sakura then decided to keep her curiosity for the next day, not knowing that the Uchiha has noticed the amiss. As they walked, Sakura secretly glanced at Sasuke, who looked forth the whole time with a basket of fruits himself. After the long time of separation, the kunoichi began scanning the shinobi's appearance by comparing the present and last time she saw him. His hair has grown longer and his jaws more pronounced. He has also grown taller and more muscular behind the poncho, and also more handsome. Some things really do change in fact. Smiling to herself, Sakura heard his voice for the first time "Sakura."

"Ha…Hai?!"

Sasuke raised his eyebrows over her stutters, surprisingly not finding it annoying anymore "Y… How are you doing?"

"Me? I'm ….I'm doing fine. How about you, Sasuke-kun?" _"He's speaking to me first?!"_

"Em." Sasuke nodded in his high collar. Glancing at her, Sasuke also noticed the changes that time did to the kunoichi. Her hair was shorter than before and with a different parting. With the change in her combat outfit and build, Sakura has definitely grew from a frail thin girl to a beautiful strong kunoichi. And yet, her smile never changed and her eyes still retained their kindness but also attained bravery.

"How's your journey?" Is it….. great?" _"SHANNARO, OF ALL WORDS BUT GREAT?! BAKA! AHO!"_

While Sakura cussed at herself, Sasuke noticed and wondered about her distressed face. Before he could ask, they unknowingly reached the village with dinner prepared and each were dragged to different seats by the children. Looking at the way she happily talked to the villagers and with Naruto by his side bragging about his marriage, Sasuke decided to hold himself back throughout the dinner.

Once dinner finished with nightfall, the four of them entered the guesthouse when Naruto asked the former rogue "De, teme what are you doing here anyway?"

"…. It has nothing to do you."

"Hmph, you're still the same." Naruto sulked.

"Same goes to you dobe. Why are you here?"

Naruto then put on his 'serious' mode and explained Konoha's situation and their mission to Sasuke. At the side-line, Sai was looking through his bag and weapons while Sakura started analysing at the plants that she gathered. Apart from the sanshuyu, none of them would contribute much to the cure. After hearing her sighing, Naruto became concerned over his teammate.

"Sakura-chan, is everything alright?"

The girl shook her head in denial "Not really, Naruto. There's not enough sanshuyu and the samples I made would not be able to counter the disease. The symptoms that Tsunade-sama sent to me are too complicated to be combined as a disease. So, I believed that this disease will lead to more complications to the patients and…"

Sakura stopped when there was cricket sound. She looked up to see dumbfounded men in front of her. It was one of the few moments when the medical ninja put on her hat and started to throw in medical jargons towards her victims.

"Sakura-chan, I don't understand a simple thing you just said."

"…..Aho." Sakura cussed at the then-upset blonde, not knowing that the Uchiha smirked under his poncho at the worthy remark.

"In other words, after hearing the people here, I decided that we should enter the mountain to gather more plants."

"The mountain? If I'm not wrong, the villager said that there are also monsters in the mountainl." Sai finally spoke up in the team.

"That's right, Sai. That's why I think it's best to move at dawn tomorrow."

"HN! Who cares about monsters when we have the whole team here?"

"Whole….." "…team?" Sakura and Sai looked confused until they realized the blonde's motive. Naruto put on his evil smile and glanced at the confused Uchiha who was quietly listening to their plan.

". . . What?"

"It's been a while since Team 7's together. Sasuke, you're coming with us tomorrow!"

"Ha?!"

"Naruto, wait a ….."

"Relax, Sakura-chan, Sai. Sasuke's a great player even with that rubbish attitude of his." That statement earned him a dumbfounded Sakura, no-facial-expression smiling Sai and a frowned Sasuke, all staring at him without being noticed at all.

"So, what do you say, teme?!"

"Why should I do that, dobe?"

"Don't say such thing, Sasuke. Well, if only you come for my wedding, you should have….."

"Hn..… Do as you like." Sasuke laid down to sleep to avoid his further complaints, much to Sakura and Sai's shock. Taking it as a 'yes', Naruto excitedly cheered for the next day as Sai sighed at the blonde's reckless decision. On the other hand, Sakura was as excited mentally, hoping for a chance to rekindle the team union. Unknowingly to them, Sasuke decided to join them in their mission at will, hoping to redeem the lost time with the ones he thought of as _family_.

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><p>Hiding within the dark forest in the clouded night, a pair of gold sinister eyes was spying at the hut where the shinobis were and left towards the mountain.<p>

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**First of all, I wanna say thanx to those who review, follow and fav this story. It really boost up my mood to write a better story. I actually hv the short outline of the entire story but listening to Naruto OST helps me imagining more stuff for the story. I just realize how difficult to write Sasuke that I want to portray him embodying Itachi's idea of 'self-sacrifice' in his way but being selfish at the same time. It's pain in a butt to be honest and sorry if Sasuke's monologue is too long. This chapter is longer than I expected. **

**Anyway, hope u enjoy this chap and wait for the next, and also if u can, take a look at my other story 'Perfect Dream'. Thank you^^**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to the author, Kishimoto Masashi.**

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><p>"Ne, are you sure about this, Sakura-chan?" The Uzumaki doubtfully asked his female teammate.<p>

"Yes, Naruto. The villagers said that people entered the mountain through here and never come back."

The group were standing in front of the hidden entrance Sakura found the day before. The night has yet to be welcomed by the morning sunlight as the shinobis felt that the 'monsters' may retreat into the mountain after their 'activities' from dusk to dawn.

"Hm, maybe those monsters could be something else, like…" Naruto teased with his usual pranks.

"Ghosts you mean?" Sai interrupted. Naruto stared at the artist with a discontent 'you-just-have-to-spoil-it-bastard' look. Sasuke continued to look at the entrance, with his hidden right hand slightly touching the chokuto on his belt.

The group finally entered towards a dark cave with water droplets echoing the slippery pathway with plants and rocks as little obstacles. Holding a torchlight in his hand, the pathway was then divided into two caves in front of Naruto. The blonde stopped to activate his Sage Mode and turned to Sakura, Sai and Sasuke behind him.

"Anything, Naruto?" Sakura spoke first.

"Hmmm. Even with Sage Mode, I can't sense anything. Sasuke, how about you?"

At the last in line, with the Sharingan and Rinnegan activated, Sasuke replied "Nothing."

"That so? We have to split up here at this rate."

"I agree. First, it would be wise that Naruto and Sasuke take one route each."

"Hm, why, Sai?"

"If Sakura and I are paired up, we won't be able to detect any abnormality further nor your positions well. At least with the Sage Mode and Sharingan, you can each detect everyone's presence and also use your summonings as a form of communication."

"He, is that so?" Naruto quickly agreed.

"Yeah. So now we have to decide two-men teams here. It would be best if Sa…."

"Me and Sai will take the left one! Sasuke and Sakura-chan should take the right."

"Wh….Wait a minute, Naruto. You shouldn't just decide like that." Sakura protested.

"Don't worry, Sakura-chan. Even though he has one hand now, Sasuke is still strong enough to protect you." Naruto said with confidence and it left Sakura tightened in her mouth.

"Of course, we can still rely on these wireless radios although Sasuke would have to use Sakura-chan's one." With Naruto's statement, the two ninjas glanced at each other and turned away at the sight of the other's eyes.

Glad that things were going his way, Naruto left his final sayings "Alright! If we can't talk through these at all, then meet outside the entrance in 3 hours' time. Let's go, Sai!"

The blonde immediately dragged the artist into the left cave while the other two slowly walked into the other in silence.

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><p>"What are you planning, Naruto?" Knowing the prankster for five years, Sai could tell from his grinning expression that he was up to something back there.<p>

"Ha? Well…. Sai, I just think that teme should spend more time with Sakura-chan instead of me. Do you think so?"

"Not at all. I've already thought of having Sakura and Sasuke together since me and that ass won't work well together."

"Really?" Naruto mentally agreed, knowing that the Uchiha still does not have a liking on Sai.

"So, what about you, Naruto?"

Naruto stopped at his pace, which also stopped Sai on his feet "Those two….. should get things together by now."

"Are you…talking about Sakura's feelings?"

"No. Sasuke's." Sai was surprised at the said name as Naruto continued "It's been so long and yet, Sasuke hasn't replied to Sakura-chan's feelings. I don't know what he's thinking now but I just can't stand there and not do anything for them."

"But Naruto, why are you so sure about Sasuke's feelings now?"

Naruto turned around to face Sai with his own signature smile "That's because I just know it dattebayo."

Sai grinned at such sentimental words "Hm, for once you came with a good idea, Dickless." The artist walked forward before Naruto realized and exploded.

"Not for once…..!? WHAT WAS THAT, YOU ASSHOLE!?"

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><p>In the other pathway, awkward silence continued for Sakura and Sasuke. Even though they were once teammates and she has feelings for him for many years, they do not have many things in common to talk about but Sakura is not the type to leave the way things are at present. Mentally creating and eliminating hundreds of ideas to start a conversation, Sakura carelessly slipped over a rock but Sasuke managed to grab her arm with his right hand in time.<p>

"T…Thank you, Sasuke-kun." Sakura turned her face towards the Uchiha, and emerald eyes met onyx eyes at a palm length.

"S…Sorry, Sasuke-kun." She quickly pulled away and apologized.

"Hn." Sasuke nodded to and both continued walking, blushing without each other's realization. Sighing that they were going nowhere in their relationship again, Sakura heard Sasuke's voice once more.

"Sakura."

"Yes?"

"What rank are you now in the village?"

"I'm now Jounin and a Head Medic in Konoha Hospital."

"I see." Sasuke answered with pride.

"Sasuke-kun… Eh, how was your journey in the last three years?" Sakura asked the same question which was interrupted by the village children, wanting to shorten the distance of their relationship by listening to the stories of his journey first.

"It was fulfilling. The world is bigger than I expected."

"Is that so? Where have you been?"

The Uchiha immediately thought of the latest and meaningful visit he had a few day ago "The Land of Rivers."

"Hmm." The feelings of joy appeared on her face with the natural flow of the conversation.

"I went to the place where you defeated an Akatsuki member."

"Re….Really?!"

"Ah. It was quite a scene there."

"Hehe. Well, I didn't really defeat him myself. Chiyo-baasama did most of the fighting than me. That person was amazing." The medical-nin felt pleased that the Uchiha actually visited a place where she held great memories of.

"Is that so?" Sasuke thought of her modesty while Sakura reminisced her time with the Great Chiyo of the Sand and the fight with Sasori of the Red Sand. A bright light began to glint in front of them, which made Sakura ran towards the light, Sasuke following behind. As they slowly reached their destination, the morning light slowly revealed the landscape and its details for the two shinobis.

The revelation was a large cavern with plants growing at every corner and several dark entrances curtained by vines. The light that guided the two came from several chinks of the surface, which would be the mountain's inner surface. Normal visitors would not think much but a person with keen eyesight could tell that the place was somehow artificially created as the cavern was near-to-perfectly circular.

Initially shocked by the terrain, Sakura regained her calmness and walked around the supposed walkway with the greens aligning it. _Kouboku, rindou, suikazura_. As far as Sakura remembered, these medicinal plants can only be found in the books she studied under Tsunade's tutelage and they are said to be extremely difficult to cultivate, or even discovered. If Konoha managed to cultivate them and some unrecognizable plants here, many people would be saved and diseases shall be stopped like now. Overwhelmed by a great sense of pride and accomplishment, Sakura squatted near the plants and took out several vials with water inside. Not comprehending the entire situation and also wary of the place, Sasuke approached Sakura.

"What are you doing, Sakura?"

"Eh? Ah! Sorry, Sasuke-kun. I just got carried away. It's just that it's rare to find these plants and I think that I should bring them back so that we can cultivate them for the future." Sakura explained while holding a stem that carries a white flower bud with a single blue lining along each petal.

"What's that on your hand?"

"This? I'm not sure. I have never seen it in the books before so maybe I should bring it back for Shizune-san for analysis but…."

"Hn?"

"I don't have enough vials to carry all the plants safely. I have to prioritize the ones for the cure and these later." "_But then again, I just can't stop feeling that I should not leave this behind, even though it's not fully blossomed yet." _Sakura was at conflict until she hesitantly turned to the Uchiha.

"Sorry, Sasuke-kun but can you at least hold this one for me?"

"Hn? Can't you get it in the next trip here?"

"B…But… somehow I just have to take this one back. Please, Sasuke-kun." Sakura looked at him with that desirous look Sasuke has never seen before, even in their Genin days and the kunoichi probably did not realize it herself. Wanting to ease her inner conflict and without an excuse to refuse, Sasuke nodded and gained a slight smile from the girl, which he secretly appreciated. As Sakura was about to pass the stem, she found the sanshuyu at the other corner of the cavern and ran forth, unintentionally dropping the flower. The Uchiha grabbed the flower with his quick reflexes.

**"_What I said, Naruto, is that I love you."_**

Sasuke's onyx eyes widened in shock at the sudden words. Turning around to see Sakura paying great attention on the sanshuyu and not him, the black-haired shinobi noticed an illusionary snowfall falling over the cavern with an illusionary Sakura facing the disbelieved Naruto with Sai, Lee, Kiba, Akamaru, Kakashi and Yamato watching them.

"_Is this…genjutsu?"_ Quickly gained composure, Sasuke looked at the flower in his hand, deducing that the flower might be causing an illusion onto himself only as Sakura did not seem to notice it and he calmly watched the two figures arguing. Mentally, he refused to believe that Sakura would ever confess to the blonde, knowing that she only looked at him as a close friend.

**_"Something like that? You think it's easy for a girl to confess her feelings!? All this way!?" _**

Well, memories of her past confessions flashed through his mind. "_But still, why would she confess something like that to that dobe?_" Sasuke thought while the illusion eventually vanished as if it was blown away and replaced with a scene he knew, yet left in the dark.

In front of his eyes was a weary Sasuke facing the back of a stern-faced Sakura on a bridge. Sasuke then realized that it was more of a memory than illusion as the setting was where… he killed the dictatorial Danzo to avenge for Itachi. He again heard Sakura's voice which he did not remember hearing.

**_"If I…If I…If…I can stab Sasuke-kun right now, this will all end." _**

"_Are these memories? Sakura's… thoughts!?" _

**_"It was me. It was me who couldn't stop him. I couldn't stop him from leaving because…I was too weak. That's why…Naruto…Kakashi-sensei…I will take responsibility. I will take all the blame for not stopping Sasuke-kun from being in the darkness. That's why I will…shoulder it by killing him. All…by myself." _**

The fragment of Sakura's thoughts hit Sasuke like bricks as the Uchiha began to recall Sakura's words from the Fourth War which he unwaveringly ignored then.

"_If I could have taken all your pain onto myself to comfort you, I would have…"_

"_Because she loves you so much it's breaking her heart!"_

Kakashi's words during the war also echoed in Sasuke's head which complicated things further in his mind. He knew of her feelings over ten years, but innately, he did not truly understand the intensity of that love even for the past three years of redemption as he lost the feeling 'love' for many years to pursue the dark path.

However, before he could think further, a sudden scream took him back to the present and his side eye captured the sight of Sakura's hand quickly vanishing into a hole on the ground. Without any thought, he quickly got onto his feet towards the then-enclosed hole, hastily slipping the flower into his pocket without realizing a white petal fall from the bud.

"Sakura!"

* * *

><p>Beforehand, Sakura was at the other corner of the cavern, carefully collecting the sanshuyu into vials of special water and then her bag. As she plucked the last one, something caught her attention and she curiously looked closer to the walls that were covered by green vines. A line of unknown markings was aligned down the wall towards the floor but her past experiences allowed Sakura to recognize the markings quickly.<p>

"_These are…ancient sealing markings!? But what are they doing here? I have to tell everyone about these markings!" _

Suddenly, the ground beneath her broke through, causing Sakura to lose her foothold and fall into the hole. Screamed out of shock, she plunged into sudden darkness and shortly, landed on her side. Thanks to her protectors, she managed to escape without any major cuts. As Sakura picked herself up, flames began enlightening the place, revealing a similar cavern as the above with more dark entrances and sealing marks everywhere. However, at a blink of an eye, the medical-ninja was suddenly surrounded by approaching vines with thorns aiming to strike her at point-blank.

With her keen eyesight, she managed to evade all without a scratch through drilled aerobics skills. At the same time, she gathered chakra in her fists and feet and easily obliterated the vines into pieces behind her evasion. Knowing that any hit on the walls would risk having the walls demolished and being buried alive, the kunoichi restrained herself and reached out for a kunai when footsteps were heard from one of the entrances and the vines seized their attacks. Turning to the direction of the sound, she heard a man's voice, seemingly talking to someone else.

"Yes, Master. I should take care of the intruder as you command."

Appearing in front of Sakura was a man in dark attires and two swords behind him with a bird-like tattoo across his closed right eye and neck, accompanied by his long, dark green hair. Revealing only his left golden eye, he gave a sinister smirk to Sakura.

"So, tell me, young one, how would you like your blood to be spattered here?" Sakura frowned with great caution and directed her kunai towards the man. "A stab? A slash? Or butcher?"

"Who are you?" Sakura demanded.

Initially with an evil smile and killing instinct, the man halted and the cautious kunoichi maintained her fighting stance. The stranger held his right eye with the expression of listening attentively to someone.

"Are you sure? Master?"

"_Master?" _Sakura thought. "_Who is he talking to?_"

"But…. No…Yes…If that is your wish, Master, I should grant it." The man closed his eye and formed a Ram hand seal. He then opened his left eye, revealing a silver pupil less eye. The facial expression of the man changed upon the sight of Sakura and returned back to the previous expression and golden eyes.

"You….Curse you…."

"Eh?"

In a flash, the man appeared right in front of the shocked Sakura with a sword striking towards her and the killing intent on his eyes and face.

"_!? He's fast!_"

"How dare you seal our master! CURSE YOU, UZUMAKI MITO!"

**###**

**Once again, thanx everyone for reviewing, fav and follow this story and also for Perfect Dream^^**

**Firstly, to Kaelin The Black Swan, I sorta pity Sakura that she's being downgraded in the anime just for Hinata to be 'upgraded' in the movie and I really don't feel Sakura's epicness in the anime as much in the manga. But that will change in this story since this is more on SasuSaku. To Delione, u're going to c few longer chapters in the future and I will be updating weekly. **

**In this chapter onwards, since Naruto realized Hinata's unrequited love throughout the years in the movie, why not have Sasuke realized how much Sakura suffered but grew because of him in this story? **

**Anyway, there's not much of action in here which I didn't expect but more will come in the next chapter. In the next chapter, there's going to be mentions about Mito & an old friend and there's going to be an intimate moment between the two as well. So stay tuned n review for any interest or improvement. Thanx^^  
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	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto Masashi.**

* * *

><p>"CURSE YOU, UZUMAKI MITO!"<p>

The sword was aimed at Sakura at point-blank but the Fifth Hokage's disciple managed to dodge the blade at a hair's breadth from her face by somersaulting backwards to the other side of the cavern. Both shifted to their previous fighting stances with their sharp weapons pointing to the other.

"_If I'm not wrong, that name he mentioned was the wife of the First Hokage. But why did he think I was her? Is there anything to do with Mito-sama and this place?"_

The attacker leapt forth and the sword slashed across Sakura which she blocked with her kunai. Moving back, he again swung his sword which the kunoichi effortlessly avoided all with taijutsu. At the final swing upon her left side, Sakura accurately gathered enough chakra to destroy the approaching sword, before she witnessed an evil smirk among the broken pieces.

_"Eh? Oh no!"_

As he followed forth with his swing, he threw a forceful side kick at Sakura who managed to reduce the impact with her arms and landed sideways by attaching herself to the walls with chakra.

"_That man… His swordsman skill is so refined. Probably better than Sasuke-kun. But it seems that his constant attacks from the right side must be the results of his closed right eye. If he's not opening it at all, then I shall strike the blind spot!"_

With chakra on her feet, Sakura lunged forward towards the swordsman and landed several air punches and kicks onto him. However, with the next slash, she managed to stop the man's sword with her kunai, as planned.

"Shannaro!" The kunoichi finally hit the man's face with her enhanced left fist that caused the man to be thrown to the walls and several stones from the ceiling to drop. Although she finally got her first hit, she was not letting her guard down as the man slowly got onto his feet with his sadistic smirk again.

"_I have to get out of here. This place is a disadvantage to use the chakra-strengthening taijutsu. I can't waste any more time but which way?" _

Sakura carefully eyed on the entrances behind the man. Suddenly, her ninja instinct sensed something weird and quickly jumped forward as she turned to see vines reaching out for her. The combination of strikes and evasion had Sakura in pinch when the man found an opening and deeply slashed across Sakura's obi and stomach.

"_Darn!"_

Sakura leapt opposite the man, kneeling with her hand healing on the bloody wound and the other holding onto the medical pouch attached to the torn obi. Without hesitation, the golden eyed man took off to land the final strike on the wounded kunoichi.

Suddenly, the ceiling above them was destroyed, leaving a heavy pile of dust and sand in between the two. Initially blocking the dust storm with her right arm, Sakura heard lots of chirpings and glanced at the shadowy figure that slowly became more visible with the sandy pile thinning itself.

"Sa...suke-kun."

The Uchiha turned around to the kunoichi and saw her bloody wound. The sight of blood darkening her scarlet clothes further enraged Sasuke as his right hand was becoming more visible with the vanishing Chidori.

"Who did that, Sakura?"

"Eh?" Sakura carelessly responded.

"Who did it?!" Those words and Sasuke's Sharingan brought Sakura to memories of the Chunin Exams where Sasuke violently attacked her attacker which terrified her at that time.

The Uchiha turned to glare the swordsman and pulled out the chokuto from its sheath, casting Chidori onto it. With his anger intensified his chakra upon the sight of his important one to be harmed, the electrified chokuto further brightened the cavern, clearly revealing the man's left golden eye and the Uchiha's angered dual dojutsu.

"Was it you?"

"Those eyes… An Uchiha child?" Again, the man's expression changed to his listening stance. "What is it, Master?"

"_Master?" _Sasuke suspiciously looked at the withdrawing man who put his remaining sword back into its sheath. At the same time, he moved closer to Sakura who continuing healing her wound and observed the man closely. Through his Sharingan, he could see two different chakras residing in that man's body, but the chakra flow towards the right eye was somehow blocked.

"Is that so, Master? As you wish." The man stepped back in front of the entrance he came from and began forming quick hand seals, which Sasuke saw was an Earth-element type.

"The two of you…shall perish here!" The man hit the ground with his palm and the ground began to crumble. Noticing it beforehand, he quickly ran towards the wounded Sakura but was unable to reach her in time as he lost his ground then. As the ground crumbled, the two shinobis fell with the rocks and disappeared into the darkness.

* * *

><p>"Sai, did you hear something?" Naruto turned to his teammate.<p>

"No, but I sensed a bit of vibration on the ground. There must be a collapse somewhere."

"Yes, but where the heck are we?! It's like a maze! What's with these tunnel?!" Naruto whined.

"I knew we should not have followed your way." Sai sighed.

"Shut up, Sai! I'm good with directions, alright! We're just go this…..ARGHHH!"

The blonde fell over the entrance with Sai looking at the surroundings beyond the entrance. He found themselves in front of a dense jungle and Naruto being filled with dirt. Naruto looked around and asked "Ehm, here is…?"

"We're probably at the other side of the mountain. I wonder Sakura and Sasuke are in or outside now?"

Naruto took out his wireless radio and talked "Sakura-chan? Sakura-chan?!" Nothing but the buzzing sound that indicated no signal responded.

"I have a bad feeling about this."

"So, you noticed, Naruto?"

"Yeah. You?" Naruto wondered.

"Yeah, along the way, even though they were well-hidden, there were sealing marks around the walls. If the same goes to the Sakura and Sasuke's path, there must be something big being sealed in this mountain."

"You're right, Sai. But who could spend all the time and chakra putting up those seals?"

"_You buffoon…." _A familiar voice spoke up in his head.

_"_Kurama!?" Naruto shouted which got Sai startled. Closing his eyes, Naruto then connected his mind to his subconscious, putting him in front of his long-time 'partner'.

"_What a fool of you not to recognize your own clan's signature jutsu… Well, it can't be helped since the fall of the Uzumaki clan was long before your birth._" The Kyuubi sarcastically spoke.

"_You know them, Kurama?!"_

"_Yeah, too well. That's because it's a similar seal that Uzumaki Mito used to seal me in her._"

"_Uzumaki… Isn't that kaa-chan's predecessor dattebayo?_"

"_Ah…. That person. Hn, as noble as she looked, she's just as rowdy as any Uzumaki, like you." _Naruto then chuckled as he remembered such words from his late mother.

"_So then, do you know who or what was sealed there?_"

_"Hn! How the heck should I know that? I may have been sealed in Mito the longest but I don't necessarily know everything! It's probably before she sealed me in."_

_"Heee, aren't you just getting old, Kurama?"_

_"I ain't wanna hear that from you, brat! Now, get out!"_

Naruto giggled with Sai worriedly staring at the blonde. Realizing that, the jinchuuriki coughed out and spoke to the artist "Kurama said that those seals were by the First's wife but he has no idea about the thing being sealed in."

"Is that so? The scout rats that I sent around happened to disappear before I could see the culprit. There's something going inside there." Sai looked earnestly at the mountain. "I think that we'll have to get to Sakura and Sasuke quickly."

Naruto confidently smirked "Hn, and I know just the jutsu to find them!"

* * *

><p>"<em>Warm…It's so warm but why?<em>" Sakura thought as she last remembered falling among the rocks and Sasuke in front of her.

"_That's right. Sasuke-kun!" _The kunoichi managed to open her eyes to see faint light spots all over the darkness which gave enough brightness to look around. She first saw herself lying on her right and hugging the medical pouch in midst of dust and rocks settling down from the collapse. A sudden pain struck her as she forgotten about her injury that began bleeding again due to the fall. Feeling warmth on her left shoulder onwards, she looked up to see Uchiha Sasuke on top of her with his right elbow and upper left limb as pillars to support his body above hers.

"Sasuke-kun!"

"Hn. You're awake, Sakura?" Sasuke struggled to push himself up, same with Sakura.

"Wh...Did you shield me in the fall?!"

Ignoring his worried teammate, he sighed with relief that she could still be concerned of him and safe from injuries aside from the previous wound after he managed to catch her and casted Susanoo around them during the fall. Sakura felt apologetic for her being 'weak' during the fall and Sasuke spoke.

"We have to meet up with Naruto. Can you stand?"

Sakura nodded. He stood up and began walking when his poncho was pulled from the back.

"Sasuke-kun, wait."

"What now, Sakura?" Sasuke turned to see a serious Sakura pulling his poncho. "Look, if you're going to say something, save it. We have…"

"Before that, let me see your wounds first, Sasuke-kun." Sakura firmly interrupted which surprised the Uchiha.

"What are you…?"

"Don't lie. You can't hide them from me, Sasuke-kun. I know that you can't escape a fall like that without wounds or scratches." Due to her long experience, Sakura has grown accustomed to the scent of blood that she immediately smelled it from the poncho.

"Hn. Says the one with the bloody wound." The Uchiha stubbornly insisted.

"Look, I have already stopped the bleeding. Sasuke-kun, as a medical-nin, I cannot and will not let anyone to walk away with wounds at my sight. That's why you're going to stay here and let me heal them." Sakura looked at Sasuke with determined emerald eyes, refusing to give in to his demands.

For the first time, Sasuke felt dazzled by her persistence, not as his teammate but as a medical-nin. Thinking that she was and probably more stubborn than in the past, Sasuke finally gave in and sighed "Fine. But we're moving once you're finished, alright?"

"Em." Sakura nodded, silently thanking him in letting her heal his wounds that she could have gotten instead.

Sitting on the ground together, Sasuke first removed his poncho, revealing his black shirt and flak jacket with several fresh blood stains. Sakura withheld her sad expression as she knew that he got those wounds for shielding her but she realized something.

"Em, Sasuke-kun…I can't do my job with...your shirt on. So….you'll have to take it off." Sakura shyly requested.

Ignoring her flustered expression, Sasuke began removing the black bandages on his right arm and then his shirt, revealing his bare muscular upper body and bandaged left limb to the kunoichi. Struggling to keep her face straight, she quickly turned to her medical pouch to grab bandages while thinking how physically fine the Uchiha has become over the years. She tightly closed her eyes out of embarrassment, as the man in front of her was making her emotions going crazy even though she has been in many situations like this with other males. With little time, she gained composure to move behind and placed her hand onto his bare back. Sakura then began the treatment with deep reddened cheeks caused by the mere sensation of his back.

To Sasuke however, he realized she must have do the same for other guys throughout her medical career, but the thought of her touching other man's body displeased him greatly. But that again, aside from the soothing sensation of the medical jutsu on his body, the warmth of her hands on his back somehow dissolved his anger and also aroused a foreign feeling which he felt not to venture to.

"_Damn it, what the hell am I thinking?" _ Sasuke quickly move away which startled Sakura.

"Wait a minute! I'm not done yet!"

"We're losing time."

"At least…" Sasuke turned his onyx eyes to the medical-nin. "Let me change your …left arm's bandages."

Sasuke looked at his missing arm and faced the girl. Sakura moved closer to the Uchiha and began to remove the tattered bandages around his left limb. Upon removal, she looked at the scarred limb and sadly reminisced the time she first looked at it being bloody with Naruto's. Meanwhile, Sasuke stared at the kunoichi who was wrapping his limb with fresh white bandages. His eyes glanced closely at every detail of her facial features, looking on how her eyes were half-closed, how her hair slowly fell down her face, how her lips….

"Ok, Sasuke-kun. It's done."

The Uchiha looked at his newly bandaged arm and then Sakura, who noticed his stare and looked away. The pink-haired girl began staring at the bright spots surrounding the cave, which mesmerized Sakura upon their simple beauty. Noticing her stare and curiosity, Sasuke decided to answer them without her asking.

"Glowworms."

"Glowworms?" Sakura shockingly asked of his sudden word.

"They are female larvae that emit light in the darkness like here."

"Heee…. They're beautiful." Sakura slowly admired the abnormal light surrounding them. She then turned her emerald eyes to meet with the onyx directly. For a moment there, time froze between the two, one whose feelings lingered for many years, yet unanswered and the other whose conflicts confused his present feelings. In that serene ambiance, both instinctively moved closer, drawn by the clarity of the other person's eyes.

Before they moved further, the wall behind Sasuke was destroyed, prompting the Uchiha to shield the kunoichi immediately. Sensing the known chakra behind, he looked at the debris and two shadowy figures beyond, annoyed by the 'third-wheels'.

"SASUKE! SAKURA-CHAN! YOU THERE!?"

"Naruto?!" Sakura shouted.

"Sakura-chan! Thank god you…are…safe?" Naruto in his Sage Mode stuttered as he stared at them.

Once the two noticed his look and looked around, they noticed that the half-naked Sasuke was on top of Sakura with his right hand supporting himself while Sakura lying down with her obi missing. To anyone at sight, they might be up to what a lovely couple would do without any care of the world. Realizing what their position implied to the two guys, Sasuke and Sakura immediately pulled away, blushing madly on the scene.

"Ehhh…what….em…how?" Naruto shyly stuttered.

Behind, Sai said in his smile "Looks like your plan works, Naruto."

"Eh? It's not what you think! We're just….!" Sakura shouted as the silent, flustered Sasuke began wearing his clothes again.

"But then…, didn't think Sakura-chan and Sasuke would move that fast…" Naruto said with his perverted smile.

"Naruto….." Sasuke glared at the two.

"Ah, you mean a love-making session?" Sai added oil in the fire.

Unable to hold her frustration, Sakura immediately punched the two guys far from them with Sasuke dumbfounded behind and her shout "GET YOUR HEADS TOGETHER, SHANNARO!"

* * *

><p>"That hurts, Sakura-chan. Why didn't you say it quickly?" Naruto said as both he and Sai were rubbing their bruised cheeks.<p>

"Hmph! That's what you get for jumping into conclusions." Sakura pouted as she packed up her pouch properly but she then looked back at the time in the cave.

"_But…what was that just now? Not only it was the first time to be in such situation, but it's as if Sasuke-kun and I are about to….. Nonono! That's totally impossible._" The kunoichi shook her head in denial.

"By the way, what are we going to do with the attacker in the mountain, Sakura?" Sai's question brought Sakura to reality.

"I'll report it to Hokage-sama but the cure is the main priority now. He'll probably send a team of ANBU to check it out." Sakura sat on the bird while gripping her pouch containing vials of sanshuyu and other plants.

The rest nodded. "Done. Sasuke-kun, what are you going to do from here?"

"You should follow us back, Sasuke!" Naruto insisted.

The two looked at surprise while Sai smiled at the order he expected. Naruto then dragged the Uchiha towards four ink birds that Sai created earlier.

"Oi, dobe, wait a mi….!"

"No complain, teme! Everyone's dying to see you back home!"

"…_home, huh?_" Sasuke looked down.

"Don't you think it's wise to report yourself for Kakashi-san and Naruto's sakes since you went unnoticed for three years, Sasuke?" Sai suggested a lie to help Naruto who appreciated it a lot by giving him a thumbs up.

"…Fine." Sasuke then rode on an ink bird without a care. In their respective minds, Sasuke and Sakura were preoccupied with the 'intimate' moment they had while Naruto was happily planning his next steps, probably with Kakashi-sensei's help this time.

The group then departed on Sai's ink birds towards Konoha, thinking of the possible situation happening in the village and the unexpected incident in the mountain.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, the golden-eyed swordsman was gazing at four birds flying away when a man and woman appeared behind him on top of the mountain.<p>

With his golden-eyes looking beyond and short magenta hair flowing along the wind current towards the front, the man behind spoke "The spy has been set up and is on its way to the base, Gojou-san."

"Good job, Fuga. In a few days, it's about time for the master to awake and us to assist his revenge. On that place. On that woman." His sadistic smirk covered his once-frowned face, thinking of their revenge and their master.

**###**

**Alright, that is it for now. Here, I want to show Sakura's strength firsthand though I'm not good in explaining fights. To be fair, I would expect Sakura to mature more than what Sasuke would expect her to, since he's in a way trapped in the past. The intimate scene between Sasuke and Sakura is something I thought of after watching the scene with Naruto and Hinata where both looked away with fireflies near a pond. Here we have two of them looked at each other with glowworms in the cave though things at the end got messy. But still, the moments between the two will be causing Sasuke to be confused with his future intentions (in this story, I mean^^)  
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**Finally, in the next chapter, our beloved Team 7's back in Konoha and Kakashi's debuting finally! And I assure you guys, that things are getting better now.  
><strong>

**Thanx for reading and pls review if you can. I appreciate it^^**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto Masashi.**

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><p><em>*Four days beforehand…*<em>

_It was a fine morning in Konohagakure where people need not worry about any incoming dangers in their daily lives with the Alliance in place. Normal citizens would not have to worry about their homes being destroyed and families being killed, though some shinobis do miss those 'trilling' days. In the center of the village, newly-promoted chunins Sarutobi Konohamaru was strolling with teammates Udon and Moegi after a disappointing scouting mission. _

_"Argh, god damnit, when are we gonna get a better mission kore?!"_

"_Don't haste it, Konohamaru-kun. I'm sure Hokage-sama has something for us sooner or later._" _Moegi said._

"_Sooner or later…what not now!?_" _Konohamaru stomped his foot in anger when a loud crash surprised the team from the back. While the three were shaking in fear of the boy causing the crash with his stomp, screams and muttering were heard from their back. As the Sarutobi quickly pushed his way through the crowd, he saw a pale young man shivering with his mouth full of white foams. _

_Initially shocked, Konohamaru gathered his courage and turned to his two friends "Come on! Let's get him to the hospital!" The two nodded and quickly carried the man to their destination, where their surprise reached their own peak._

_The once-quiet hospital was packed of medical-nins sending patients, rushing for medicine and ordering for more help. The three chunins were in deep shock on their shoes, when a voice had them turned to the owner._

_"Konohamaru-kun!"_

_"Shizune-neechan, what's going on here kore?"_

_The woman's face worsened but with seriousness "I'm not sure at the moment but people began coming in since morning with different reasons and illnesses. It's probably …"_

* * *

><p><em>"…An epidemic?"<em>

_Hatake Kakashi, or the Sixth Hokage was looking through panels of window in the Hokage office, with Nara Shikamaru questioning the unusual word. The masked Hokage turned to the Nara, frowning._

_"Nausea, vomit, high fever, migraine, anaemia, diarrhoea, tiredness, seizure. Any cause known?" Shikamaru asked as he refused to go down the entire list of symptoms due to his lazy nature._

_"No. Those symptoms you mentioned vary in person and there's no connection found among those affected. For now, Tsunade-sama ruled out the possibility of having a plague in the village." Kakashi explained._

_"Well, that's still not a good thing, huh?" _

_"Ah, you could say that. Anything to add in, Shikamaru?"_

_""Not really, more like good news if you want it to be. I saw the list Tsunade-sama made for medicinal plants needed and I think some of them are close to some teams who are having missions at the moment." Shikamaru responded._

_"Who are they then?"_

_"For now, I found only two teams. Team 8 could gather the inu-zansho at the east while Naruto, Sakura and Sai at south-west could get the sanshuyu."_

_"That's good enough. Relay that to Kotetsu and Izumo."_

_"Understood."_

_The Nara was about to leave the room before Kakashi asked "Is there anything else, Shikamaru?"_

_Shikamaru grinned "As expected of you, Hokage-sama." He closed the door and had his serious face on in front of Kakashi. "This situation…I smell something fishy here." Kakashi looked at him as if he knew his next words._

_"Different illnesses happened at the same time. Cause unfounded even by Tsunade-sama and we can only find the temporary cure made by medicinal plants that are not cultivated in the village. Somehow, I don't think things are as simple as they seem."_

_"I think the same too, Shikamaru. But at the moment, I can't be sure of the way things are but the only similarity among the affected ones led me to think that whatever's causing the situation…"_

_"…is targeting shinobis, is what you trying to say?" Shikamaru continued._

_"As sharp as always, Shikamaru."_

_"Well, chakra drainage was used in the past to weaken enemies in wars. But who do you…You don't mean…!?" _

_"I don't think Orochimaru would be that low enough to put everyone in the village to be sick for his plan of destruction. Though I'm not ruling him out just yet since we have no clue of his present activities." Kakashi emphasized._

_"Hai, hai. Then, I'll make a move now."_

_"Ah, Shikamaru… I'm counting on you." Once Shikamaru left the room, Kakashi continued to look at the village, hoping for the least expected not to happen. _

* * *

><p><em>*Four days later*<em>

As the clouds began to block the sole source of light in the sky, slumber began to overcome Kotetsu as he yawned loudly next to his long-time partner Izumo who was quietly looking at the Konoha gates.

"Arrrr. How long will things go on at this rate?"

"Who know? With half the village immobilized, the village has to send people everywhere to search for more patients and medicine. That is why we're here, watching over the gates until things settle down." Izumo responded with a serious face.

Unlike his calm partner, the impatient Kotetsu threw his arms around "I know, I know. But to think that we're back to our guarding position once again." He then noticed dark figures in the sky, closing their distance to the ground. Both shinobis left their post and stood behind the borders of the giant gates.

"Who's there?" Izumo demanded.

The once-giant figures disappeared in the dark and then reappeared as four slim figures whom Izumo and Kotetsu recognized the three immediately.

"Ho, look who's back." Kotetsu greeted.

"OSSU! We're back!" Naruto shouted which agitated the rest that could awake the whole village.

"Izumo-san, Kotetsu-san, I know it's late but we need to see Hokage-sama immediately. What's the situation now?" Sakura asked hurriedly.

"He's probably awake, after what happened in mere four days. It'll be best to hear everything from him, Sakura. By the way, I thought there were three of you?" Kotetsu replied.

Naruto grinned and grabbed the unexpected visitor in front of the shocked Izumo and Kotetsu. "Jajan!"

"U…Uchiha Sasuke!? Why's he with you!?" Izumo asked in shock.

"Well, long story short, we met him in our mission and here he is." Naruto said. Though, even the two shinobis could guess that the glaring Uchiha was particularly forced by the village hero by looking at the other three's expressions.

"Ahm. I guess you guys should make a move then." Izumo finally spoke and the group ran to their destination.

* * *

><p>In the Hokage office, Kakashi was reading Icha Icha Paradise when the doors were thrown open wide.<p>

"Kakashi-sensei! We're….Argh!" A punch met Naruto's head.

"Naruto, show some respect! It's midnight!" Sakura shouted. Sai and Kakashi sighed at the rashness of both teammates. Personally, Kakashi told them to continue calling him sensei despite him being Hokage as they are his few closest people he have in his life and it would be awkward for them to change their greetings.

"Finally, you're back, huh?" Kakashi said while looking at the group.

"Ah, you betcha, sensei." Naruto replied.

"Well, I am glad to see you three, but…" The grey-haired shinobi shifted his glance to the door. Naruto, Sakura and Sai noticed and understood his meaning while thinking the same, _as expected of Hatake Kakashi._

"How long are you going to stand there, Sasuke?"

The Uchiha who was listening to the short conversation outside the doors lifted himself from the walls and walked towards the door, facing Kakashi face-to-face. Matching last time and now, the man has not aged a single bit, probably because of his face being masked and his messy grey hair, while the once-teenager has further matured as a man, which delighted Kakashi to see his progressive growth.

"Welcome back, Sasuke." Kakashi smiled with his eyes to his priced student.

"Hn." That was all Sasuke could say which Kakashi expected.

"Teme, can you just…" Naruto was then interrupted by Kakashi.

"Anyway, I suppose you got the plant we needed."

Sakura spoke up "Hai, it's not much but I also gathered several plants that may be useful as well."

"That's good but I take that you got them in a hard way?" The Hokage looked at the bloody cut on Sakura's clothes, thinking that they must have put up a fight to get the plants. Sasuke turned his sight to Sakura, angrily recalling their fight in the mountain.

"Mind reporting _everything _here?" Then, Sakura decided to explain the entire situation to Kakashi.

* * *

><p>After hearing everything, Kakashi leaned back on his chair with his eyes set on the four in front. "Uzumaki Mito, ha? Well, I've never seen her of course, but I remembered reading about her being one of the best kunoichis existed in the shinobi world. Even now, it is said that no one can rival her sealing jutsus."<p>

Sakura stepped forth "Kakashi-sensei, then that place…"

"I know that you all would want to know more about that place, especially you, Naruto…" Kakashi glanced at the blonde "…but in the present situation, we need more shinobis in the village to stay on guard, which means….no running outside without any of my orders." Naruto swallowed out of shock.

"For now, you all should return and rest. It must have been a long day for all of you."

Sakura, who wanted to go to the hospital to learn more about the situation, was about to say something before Kakashi insisted "Same goes to you, Sakura."

"Kakashi-sensei, I…"

"I know what you're going to say, Sakura, but even as one of the best medical-nins, you should know that even the best has to take a break first." Sakura looked down disappointedly to the floor, admitting defeat to the Hokage.

"So, what shall we do with you, Sasuke?" The Copy Ninja glanced at the Uchiha, who kept his silence the whole time.

"Hn. Me being here isn't gonna bother you, Kakashi." Til now, Sasuke continued to call him without honorifics out of habit and even though people thinks of it to be rude, Kakashi did not mind as hearing Sasuke calling him 'Kakashi-sensei' would please but also creep him out of his soul.

"Of course not but I can't let you sleep outside in Konoha for the first time in three years, can I?" Kakashi's words shook the rest who totally forgotten about Sasuke's accommodation in Konoha. All inns would have been closed, which means two options; ….sleep out or sleep in one of _their _places.

"Unfortunately, you can't stay with me as I'm staying in the Hokage Residence now, Sasuke." Kakashi smiled as Sasuke thought in disgust "_As if. His place is definitely full of those books….and maybe….more…_"

"Drop at my place, Sasuke. Hinata and I will make you feel welcome." Naruto gave a big smile while Sasuke frowned "_Ain't wanna sleep in a newlywed's house, especially dobe's_"

Sasuke then glanced at the quiet Sai. "_Hn, pass._"

Finally he turned to the final option in the room, Haruno Sakura. Well, the idea to stay in a girl's house, especially of his former teammate made him motionless on the spot. It was probably not a good idea to even think about it. Firming his initial decision to sleep outside, he quickly walked out of the room without a word.

Naruto ran after his friend "Wait, Sasuke!"

"I shall see you guys tomorrow. Good night." Sai followed suit as he disappeared from the room.

Sakura was about to leave before hearing Kakashi's final words that read her mind "The library's closed for the night, Sakura. Good night."

The kunoichi gave a scowl before returning the night greeting to the Hokage who resumed reading his book. She continued walking until she was outside the building with Naruto standing in front.

"Naruto, are you looking for Sasuke-kun?"

"Ehm. I don't want that teme to sleep outside. He should have just accepted my offer in my place."

"Naruto, sorry to say but even Sasuke-kun wouldn't want to stay with you even if you're not married."

Naruto went depressed over the harsh statement and then decided to head home first, hoping to find his wife back home safe and sound from her mission. Sakura on the other hand, assured Naruto Sasuke's stay and decided to follow Kakashi's words and began walking towards her place. Halfway her journey, her eyes captured a figure staring at the Hokage Monument with great intensity. Smiling, she then walked towards the figure.

"Too bad they carved Kakashi-sensei's mask together with his face."

Uchiha Sasuke turned to the kunoichi and smirked at the obvious statement, knowing that the masked pervert would never reveal his face even to his own students. The two stood together for a while when Sakura broke the silence.

"Sasuke-kun, where are you going to rest?"

"Hn. Outside. As long…."

Sakura interrupted "You can come to my place if you want to." The offer shocked Sasuke, as his onyx eyes shifted to the kunoichi's emerald eyes. Sakura on the other hand began screaming in her head.

"_Shannaro! Can't believe I just asked Sasuke-kun in without any thought!_"

"But aren't you ….staying with your family?"

Sakura responded "Eh, I've just moved to a small studio last year since my new duties in the hospital are quite irregular." After explaining herself, Sakura noticed his discomfort and added "Of course, you don't have to accept but…I think you should at least have a comfortable stay here."

"But you…." Sakura waited for his next words which Sasuke carefully thought of "You're living alone now right? So then, it wouldn't be…." Sasuke paused as he could not continue to say such embarrassing words.

However, Sakura managed to decipher his silence even after their long separation. To think the Uchiha could be this reserved between a guy and girl staying together. Whether or not he thought like that since childhood or during his redemption, none of that matters. Feeling grateful for his consideration, the Haruno decided to put him at ease.

"It's alright, Sasuke-kun. I'll be working on the medicinal plants tonight for a while so you can rest on my couch or bed."

After thinking throughout the conditions and her persistence, the Uchiha finally agreed and the Haruno was relieved to know that his comfortable stay has been taken care of. They began walking towards a three-storey building and after going through the stairs, both appeared in front of a door which Sakura quickly unlocked. The opened entrance revealed to Sasuke a place which he knew would suit the medical-nin very well.

The short corridor after the door led to a small cozy living room with a couch and a table and four entrances with a curtain and doors respectively. Sakura explained that the curtained one is her kitchen, first door on the right is her study room, second her bedroom and the one on the left the bathroom. After leaving their shoes at the entrance, Sakura entered the kitchen to prepare green tea as offered and Sasuke was left sitting in the living room. His eyes began analyzing every details of the neat house which somehow suited his preference of accommodation. He sat down as Sakura appeared with tea. Sasuke took a sip when Sakura asked.

"You can use the bathroom after I use. Ehm, don't mind answering if you don't but… do you have any change of clothes to sleep in?" Thinking that anyone would not bother changing clothes to sleep outdoors, she decided to pop up with that question to further enhancing the Uchiha's comfortable stay.

"….not really." Sasuke answered as expected. "Just wait here, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke was puzzled seeing Sakura entering and leaving her bedroom with clothes on her hands which raised the Uchiha's eyebrows. She held the clothes from top, which revealed to be a long dark green yukata. For a second there, Sasuke's mind wandered about how she could have a male yukata which stirred his calm mind upside down. It can't be the Uzumaki for the choice of colour nor the masked Hokage for his constant stay in the Hokage office. So...

"If you don't mind, you can wear my dad's yukata while I help you wash your clothes."

_Dad's yukata. _Sasuke felt relieved of that word but said "Sakura, you don't have to…."

"But I insist, Sasuke-kun. I promised Naruto to make your stay as comfortable as possible." Sakura again looked at him with her unwavering emerald eyes. There, the Uchiha thought that the kunoichi has given enough hospitality he needed and that the line should not be crossed over. But, seeing her being so persistent again, Sasuke grabbed the yukata without a word and proceeded to the bathroom while Sakura smiled upon his acceptance.

* * *

><p><em>Lurking in his dreams was a memory. A memory where his most beloved brother was alive and well, playing and poking his forehead in his happy childhood. Recalling those happy times, the ambiance suddenly changed to the present Sasuke being on top of a hill under a starry night. Looking around, he saw a crouching figure on the hill. He frowned as the figure began to blur itself into the darkness. <em>

Sasuke woke up as he released his frown in his dream. His only right hand rested on his forehead, remembering the feeling of Itachi poking his forehead. Standing up to see the still-darkened day outside, Sasuke realized that he only slept for few short hours from the clock and then a bright light in the study room. Remembering Sakura's words to be working 'for a while', Sasuke scowled at her definition of 'for a while' and walked to the door, when he heard soft breathing inside.

He quietly opened the door to see the girl sleeping in her hands with vials in front and scrolls underneath. Predicting that she spent the entire night analyzing the plants, Sasuke took a shawl from the chair onto Sakura's back, covering the girl from the cold night. Seeing the way she breathed through her slightly opened mouth with her hair slowly falling from her ear, Sasuke was mesmerized by such sight and he later realized that his right hand was unconsciously reaching out to Sakura's forehead.

Suddenly, memories and feeling of him tightly grabbing Sakura's throat flashed through his mind and he quickly withdrew from the girl, escaping the room at once. The guilt kept crushing him down, making him sliding down the wall with his hand onto his eyes and gritting his teeth in regret. Gasping for air, he fearfully looked at his right hand that almost took the life out of his important person and recalled the white flower that brought Sakura's thoughts into him. Then, Sasuke glanced at his pouch resting on the table where the flower rests, wanting to know more of Sakura's thoughts of him in the past but feared for the worst that could break his heart.

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**DOUBLE CHAPTER, PEOPLE!^^**

**So what do you guys think of this chapter? You may think it's quite like a filler but I don't want my story to rush here and there. So bear with me... To point out here to those who don't get some parts, that would be the first time Sasuke feeling 'jealous' over the yukata, his guilt of the past and he actually kept the flower that gave him Sakura's thoughts in the previous chapters. That flower's gonna play a huge role later on.**

**Pls review on any opinions & thoughts & thanx for reading^^**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto Masashi.**

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><p>The crowing of roosters, signifying a new morning, had Sakura shaken in shock as she woke up on the table with vials and scrolls around her. Tiredly rubbing her emerald eyes to realise her usual nocturnal habit, she felt something foreign over her shoulders, to be the red shawl that used to be hanging on her chair. Reaching out, she held the shawl in front and thought.<p>

"_Hn? Don't remember wearing this over… Must have put it on in my sleep…_"

Rewarding herself with a good body stretch, Sakura opened the door to see a huge surprise in front of her eyes; Uchiha Sasuke_. _Motionless at such sight, she totally forgotten about her 'to-do-list' last night to prepare breakfast for him first thing in the morning but it seemed that she failed, badly. The sound of plates landing on the table startled Sakura as Sasuke spoke up after noticing the still owner with his onyx eyes.

"Good morning."

"Ah! Good morning, Sasuke-kun." Flustered, Sakura quickly rushed out to the kitchen to drink before the Uchiha stopped her.

"Breakfast's here, Sakura." The confused Sakura turned to see the Uchiha sitting with the table holding two plates of bread and eggs, accompanied with two cups of green tea. Sakura was surprised as Sasuke sat down to eat. "Hope you don't mind using your food without asking."

"Of course not! But you don't have to prepare actually."

"…just think as my payment for the stay." Sasuke sipped his tea after finishing his sentence.

Deeply, Sakura felt like she was progressively learning about her crush bit by bit; his expressions and words hidden behind his actions. Despite his long shinobi career, the stoic Uchiha can sometimes easily be readable, well only to Sakura for now. Such feeling delighted Sakura as she sat down and breakfast was about to reach her mouth when things turned to the worst with a loud bang on the door.

"SAKURA-CHAN! YOU IN THERE?!"

Having her day turned from peace to warfare, the kunoichi stomped to the door and smacked the Uzumaki's head out of annoyance as a warning to protect her future peaceful days. Holding his head in pain, Naruto walked in with Sakura and saw the Uchiha's deadly glare on him. Grinning, the blonde quickly sneaked his way to him.

"Ah, am I intruding?" Naruto quietly whispered to the Uchiha.

Having enough from the _usuratonkachi_, Sasuke swiftly kicked a chair away, causing the blonde to fall flat from his supposed seat. Above and below, both were throwing electric daggers with their eyes until they felt a far worse glare next to them. The men turned to the sight of a deadly smile from the owner of the house.

"Don't even think of doing anything in this place or else…" Sakura's glare of threat once and always scares the two guys, even to the wanderer. Both slowly moved to their original position with Sakura preparing breakfast for Naruto in the kitchen.

"Naruto, where's Hinata? You could have brought her here from your house."

"Ah, Hinata's on a mission but from what Shikamaru said, she'll probably be back tonight." Naruto answered with joy that he got to meet his lovely wife who was fortunately safe from the present situation. The thought of her being sick worried him since the day they received the news. Once Sakura sat down with Naruto's portion, Sasuke noticed the blonde's stare and unwillingly asked.

"What?"

"Teme, what are you gonna do today?"

"Not sure. Probably strolling." Sasuke responded, knowing that the dobe would not let him go if he leaves the village immediately.

"Hehe, then spar with me! It's been three years, teme."

"Hn. Fine."

Naruto paused for a while and asked "Are you going to fix your arm?"

The question paralyzed Sasuke and Sakura from drinking her tea. Three years ago, this man refused to fix his left arm in order to analyse the world and now that he is back, Sakura wondered about the reason that is holding him back from performing his fullness as a shinobi and a person. Sasuke blankly looked at his cup and continued drinking. This gesture answered both Sakura and Naruto's question in his own way; _don't wanna talk about it._ No, the answer is quite obvious to the girl who chose to conceal instead.

The three continued their breakfast with Naruto breaking the awkwardness by filling in news on Konoha and their peers to Sasuke. Even the Uchiha was shocked to hear the progressing relationships between Sai and Ino, and Shikamaru and Temari of the Sand. Things did in fact changed in Konoha and the people around him in the past, as he thought.

An hour passed by and Sakura decided to take off to her plan that was postponed last night.

"Alright. I'll leave you guys here."

"He? Where're you going, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked with his mouth while Sasuke with his eyes.

"Of course the hospital. I have to report to Tsunade-sama and Shizune-san about the plants I found and work to create a cure for the village."

"Hmmm. That's too bad, right Sasuke?" Naruto slyly asked for the Uchiha's response which was not reciprocated.

Sakura responded "Well, it's not like you can even eat the right medicine without Hinata pointing them out for you, Naruto." The blonde then quietly continued his breakfast with any response to the truth.

Sakura stood up from her chair, only to be struck by a sharp pain from her stomach. Stumbling from the sudden attack, Sakura was quickly approached by both men with her arms being held by both.

"Are you alright, Sakura-chan?" Naruto worriedly asked while Sasuke's dojutsu searched for any abnormalities in her body, but nothing caught his attention.

Even though she was initially disturbed by the pain that continued to throb under her skin instead of wearing off long ago, Sakura's stubbornness in not labelling herself weak in front of her strong teammates took over into lying with a false smile she practised over the years to cover any negative emotions of hers.

"I'm fine. Probably just tired from last night."

"Are you sure?" Naruto worriedly asked.

Sakura nodded as she stood up properly despite the pain "Of course. Who are you talking to here?"

"…Sakura-chan?" The blonde carelessly answered which earned him two dumbfounded looks.

Not expecting any word at all, Sakura called Naruto "…Baka."

The one word easily knocked down the war hero to the ground. As Sakura entered her study room to prepare, her thoughts were completely occupied by her worries in the hospital, believing that the throbbing pain is nothing compared to what the village faced in the past days.

* * *

><p>With medical-nins struggling to search for the cure to the crisis, the once-busy roads of Konoha became a near-ghost town as rumours of a plague spread like wildfire despite Kakashi and Tsunade's efforts.<p>

After their sparing session in their old training ground throughout daylight, Naruto and Sasuke stopped by at the quiet Ichiraku Ramen for dinner where Teuchi delightfully treated both free ramen in celebrating Sasuke's return. As Sasuke quietly eating in opposed to his loud friend who kept ordering for more, a conversation between two men behind him caught his attention with a name and his ears readied themselves to listen properly.

"You're going to ask Haruno-san out!?"

"Ye..Yeah. I know the timing's wrong but I just can't hold back."

"Dude, I'm with chya. You can't lose out. Even to those guys from other villages."

"What!? Other…villages!?"

"Don't you know!? Even before the war three years ago, many guys have been asking Haruno-san out but they just got rejected flat-out!"

"Really?"

"You idiot! Look at her! Strong, beautiful, kind! She has the whole package! Anyone's stupid enough to not like or even reject _her!_"

"Hm, you're right. But what if I'm one of those guys too?"

"Come on man! Buckle up! You're a man. Just go to her, talk to her, hug her and kiss her!"

"Hu….Kiss her!? That's a bit too much, don't you think?!"

"Hmph! At least she won't for…get…you?" Sensing a dangerous aura from the back, both men turned to see a death god with an ominous glare onto them as targets and quickly scrammed before meeting the gates to hell alive.

Turning to his ramen, the death god kept his ominous aura on, thinking how he should have chopped those guys with Chidori and burned them with Kagetsuchi to ashes. His dark aura was noticed by Teuchi who suddenly became concerned of his business of the day. Naruto on the other hand, had listened to the guys' conversation and decided to bring things to the maximum.

"Ne, ne, ossan (_old man_), Sakura-chan really has gotten popular, right?" Naruto eyed the Ichiraku Ramen owner for his cooperation which he readily agreed at the cost of his business.

"Well, yeah Naruto. That wasn't the first anyway." Sasuke's eyebrows twitched which continued the two's acting.

"Oh really? I thought Sakura-chan had about ten to twenty guys after her last year?"

"Then I had customers talking about her _every day _here."

"Sakura-chan's so lucky to have guys chasing her around. Well, too bad she's already…huh?"

The seat next to the Uzumaki went missing which startled Naruto into angrily and annoyingly shouted "SASUKE TEME!"

* * *

><p>Not wanting to listen to their acting anymore, Sasuke used Body-Flicker Technique to teleport to a quieter place to meditate for the night. He unconsciously followed where his feet moved, just like how he used to in his long journey. When his feet stopped, the Uchiha found himself standing in the <em>sando (roadfootway) _of an old shrine.

Thinking whether to retreat or not, a familiar feeling enveloped his mind. The same back in the mountain. Sasuke quickly reached to his pouch and took out the white flower with the blue lines glowing from the petals. Brighter than the last time he witnessed Sakura's memories in the mountain.

**_"Oh, it's you! Are you still in pain?"_**

The illusion came back to Sasuke. He looked up to see Sakura concernedly asking an injured Iwa shinobi. Judging by Sakura's shinobi outfit, Sasuke quickly identified the timeframe to be the beginning of Fourth War.

**_"Oh, no… I'm fine now. T-The thing is, ever since you treated me… I haven't been able to get you out of my head." The Iwa shinobi confessed to the shocked Sakura. _**"_Hn, what's that guy thinking? Confessing in the midst of battle? What kind of…_" Sasuke paused when he heard next.

**_"I-I wrote a little love letter…Listen, I don't know whether or not I'll survive this war…So I wanted to…" _**_"Love letter? And she accepted it!?" _Sasuke thought as the illusionary Sakura took a letter from the Iwa shinobi.

**_"Thank you…but…" _**_"…but?"_

**_"There's someone else I…" _**

**_"Oh…oh well…I figured as much…I guess it's not very polite of me to be asking about what kind of person you like…I get it though…I'll get out of here…!"_**

**_". . . I'm sorry." _**

**_"But there is one thing that I know. If it's somebody that you like, then they're bound to be a great person!" _**"_A…great person, hn?_" Deserting his village, killing his brother, attacking the Five Kages, and even conspiring to destroy everything. His eyelids were half-closed as Sakura's bitter thoughts of him transcended into his emotions and the illusion slowly wavered.

He then realized that the illusion did not simply disappear, but replaced by another. Another illusionary Sakura facing another man in a different setting. The girl this time was wearing a maroon flowery yukata with a beautiful hair ornament and fan while the man was donning a fancy purple yukata. The nervousness coming out from Sakura led to his insight of another confession and the lack of varying setting indicated that it was the same shrine where it took place.

**_"Haruno-san. Would…you go out with me…as my girlfriend?"_**

**_Sakura nervously looked at the man and responded "I'm sorry but…"_**

**_"But why!? I know that you're not seeing anyone. So…" The man persisted for an answer._**

**_"I'm sorry but…" Sakura looked up to face the man's eyes "…someone promised me that he'll see me soon and I don't want to break that promise. That's why…"_**

**_"Is…that…the man who left the village two years ago?"_**

**_"…!?" Sakura nervously stepped back at the sudden question._**

**_"I don't know much, Haruno-san but that Uchiha is a traitor. Even though he's back, he might be up to no good towards you or the village. He's probably just using you to revive his clan…" _**

_"Revive… my clan…, huh?"_

Sasuke recalled his dream to restore the Uchiha clan but that dream was a mere thought since the end of the Fourth War. Even so, he would never think of Sakura as a tool for any purposes. Those words were insults. Insults to him, to the Uchiha clan, to Sakura.

**_Sakura, with her lips tightened, changed to an expression which struck fear "Don't…speak such words about Sasuke-kun! I don't care if he sees me as a tool but…you who don't know Sasuke-kun at all should keep that mouth shut!" _**

**_The man stepped back with his cold feet searching for escape "…"_**

**_"... Sasuke-kun has changed! You may think that he's a traitor but I don't care! The Sasuke-kun I know now has changed for the better that he's trying to atone for what he did in the past, even now! So, now get your butt out of here before you find yourself laying in the hospital tomorrow!"_**

**_Sakura's order quickly chased the man away from the shrine. When she was left alone, her expression changed completely from stern to sadness. She turned around to walk to the haiden (hall of worship) and looked upon blankness in her mind. _**

**_Sakura clapped her hands together and stood in a prayer stance, hoping for her unspoken words to be heard by the skies. _**There, the Uchiha carefully listened to her thoughts and embraced her emotions conveyed within her prayers.

**_"Kami-sama, please watch over Sasuke-kun. This journey is important and meaningful to him. Now that he's finally back, please…make sure he is in perfect condition. Be healthy, and be strong. I don't care how long it takes for him to travel or my feelings to be accepted. But please Kami-sama…"_**

As the illusion vanished for good, guilt and confusion enveloped the Uchiha. Even after his betrayal, her feelings never swayed to other men and instead selflessly wanting him to take his time redeeming his sins than having her feelings returned quickly like a fangirl. Why does she still love him and not go for a man who would treat her better? How could she continue to love him even after he tarnished his own reputation? How could she think of bearing the burden herself? Even if he wants to return her feelings, how can he do it? What…is love actually?

As Sasuke mindlessly stared at the full moon with two petals on the ground, a dark figure emerged behind the trees next to the shrine, standing long enough to witness from the start and questioning the Uchiha's unusual actions.

* * *

><p>After a long day in the hospital without rest, Sakura finally returned to her house in her shinobi outfit, minus the protectors, gloves and her forehead protector replaced by a red headband. Noticing the lack of chakra in the premise, Sakura sighed that the Uchiha has yet returned, probably withheld by the Uzumaki for old times' sake.<p>

Recalling back in the hospital, after listening to her story of the mountain, Tsunade requested the Haruno to rest as the former Hokage decided to search in the Senju residence for any similar cases of the illness and the mountain as well. Shizune, on the other hand, took over her shift and continued researching in the hospital. Deciding not to fall behind, Sakura continued working in the study room without a change of clothes and extra sleep.

Time passed and as she studied the scrolls for two long hours without any answer, the Haruno yawned and decided to take a break without moving from her seat. As Sakura opened her drawer for more papers, she caught a glimpse of her father's sakura necklace inside and felt an unusual urge to wear it. Thinking it as a simple way of relieving stress, Sakura wore it around her neck and realized that the hook was loose.

"_Dad should really change the chain soon._"

The clock on the table showed one past midnight and Sakura began to wonder about the Uchiha not returning. She recalled how much she changed because of her growing feelings for Sasuke. Because of those feelings, she nearly got herself killed for his sake and by him. But because of those feelings, she could now contribute her skills for her village and friends wholeheartedly, including her own life. Even though many people tried to persuade her to forget him, nothing can stop a girl to forget the one she truly fall in love with. Not to Sakura.

As Sakura glanced at the clock which showed half past one, her worries began emerging in her mind, with past feelings reappearing in her memories. Hoping that the Uchiha did not leave the village without notice, Sakura stood up but her eyes were then set on a particular scroll that she borrowed from Konoha library last month. Remembering its contents, her hands quickly reached out and opened it widely.

"_This is…This is it!_"

As the girl proudly rushed towards the living room to inform her mentor, the throbbing pain in her stomach suddenly escalated to make Sakura weak on her knees and fall onto the ground, crouching like a shell with the scroll folded in front of her. The pain quickly snaked its way through her blood circulations and expanded its range throughout her whole body.

_"Wh…What's going on!? The pain… cru…shing….Argh!"_

Gasping for air to hopefully relieving the pain, Sakura's eyes were widely in shock as the source of pain continued to spread to her nervous system, numbing her entire body despite her efforts in using medical ninjutsu to relieve it.

"_An…Anyone….there…. hel….p…._"

In the end, the pain consumed the kunoichi as her attempts to crawl to the door were halted and her hand that was reaching out for the door landed on the wooden floor, lifelessly.

**###**

**Reached 50+ followers^^ Specials thanx to those fav, follow & reviewed (****SasusakuAV, Sasusakulover, Guest [don't know who]) Great thumbs up 2 u guys^^**

**Just wanna start slow with Sakura not knowing Sasuke putting the shawl on her & a short Team 7 breakfast. I felt that Sakura would hv many admirers in & outside Konoha, so Sasuke should know bot it, in Naruto's way I guess. Like I said in the previous chap, the flower has a huge role here. The two memories will be causing Sasuke to be more confused of the definition of love as he's just as dense as Naruto in the love area.  
><strong>

**I made Sasuke here to see two different guys rejected by Sakura. One who supports her & one who insulted her in a way. Well, there are guys like that frankly...**

**For Sasuke, someone will hv to answer his questions and that will all be revealed in the next chapter! **

**Pls review & hope u enjoy^^**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto Masashi.**

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><p>"<em>What…is love actually?<em>"

As the wind breezed through his question, an utterly familiar chakra lurking behind the trees triggered his attention and the Uchiha sent his glare towards the shadow with his dual dojutsu.

"Get your ass out here, Kakashi."

Sighing at the unwelcoming gesture, the figure slowly walked out of the woods and faced the Uchiha with an aloof manner.

"Yo, Sasuke." Kakashi greeted with his right hand as a gesture and his left hand holding his favourite book at sight to the disgusted Uchiha.

"Hn. What are you doing there? Tying me with a dog leash?"

"Well, you're not gonna believe me if I say that I'm just walking around, wouldn't you?"

"Hn." Sasuke began to walk away from the shrine and Kakashi when unexpected, yet predicted words came out of the mask.

"Thanks for saving the village last year. You were a big help then." Remembering a brief glimpse of his student saving the village from a meteorite and disappearing at a glance had left a quite big impression to Kakashi as the former's words of protecting the village in Naruto's place were uncalled for. However, Kakashi was also left questioning his sudden departure from the sight.

"Hn."

"But, why did you leave immediately, Sasuke? You could have at least stayed over and waited for Naruto and Sakura to return."

"…my journey was not over at that time. I was just on my way when I saw Hyuuga Hiashi and a meteor towards here. That is all."

"Is that so? But thanks to you, Naruto was really mad at me for not stopping you."

"_Hn, as expected…_"

"Is that the same reason you're giving for not attending Naruto's wedding last month?" Kakashi sarcastically asked as he remembered how the Uzumaki fussed about Sasuke not attending on purpose while in truth no one knew where he was to send the invitation to.

"Hn. Is that all you want to say?" Sasuke unwaveringly asked.

"Then, would you spare some time with me, Sasuke? For old times' sake?" Kakashi asked with deep sincerity.

Sasuke turned to face the Hokage and deliberated the right decision to stay or leave. Well, no harm can be done conversing with the Hokage unless he starts spouting out perverted stuffs, which Sasuke is not close to be interested at all. Besides, Kakashi must have meant serious business with that tone. The motion of Sasuke walking towards Kakashi's direction gave him the sign of acceptance and joined the wanderer at the same time.

Both men then sat in front of the hall of worship, facing the footway of the shrine with the moon as their front audience of the night. Sasuke kept looking forth, waiting for the Hokage to start the conversation first, as always. Anticipating the glance, Kakashi reached out his pocket and passed a scroll to the Uchiha. As the scroll was being laid on his thighs and his right hand pulling it wide, Sasuke read through and his eyes widened at its contents.

"This is…"

"A contract of ownership to the land where the Uchiha residence once laid. Because of Pain's attack four years ago, most of the buildings in the Uchiha district were destroyed. Only the main mansion which is your house, stood firm against the attack since it was located the farthest from the center of the village. " Sasuke looked at Kakashi with unwavering eyes as the latter continued.

"It was quite tough fighting for the contract with the council but…now, it's yours."

"…!? But why?"

"Well, it's not just me. Even Tsunade-sama had to put up some acts to get it."

Shocked, Sasuke looked at the scroll, remembering first the structure of his house and then his past with his parents and Itachi. How he used to play ninja with his toys alone in his room. How he always waited for Itachi to play with him. How he strived for his father's attention. How he was comforted by his mother. How everything ended on that bloody night. Painfully remembering memories that should have been kept away, Sasuke quickly closed the scroll and handed it back to Kakashi.

"…?"

"Take it back. My journey is not over yet. Before I can completely atone for my sins, I should not have a place to return to." Sasuke sternly responded.

Kakashi sighed at his student's acclaim "No place to return, huh?"

"Ah." Sasuke firmly agreed.

"Does that include the promise you made with Sakura?"

_'I'll see you soon…'_

Remembering those words and the unknown intention behind, he lowered his hand with the scroll and head. Seeing his side profile of confusion and displeasure, Kakashi looked at his student who was slowly coming out as a person, not a shinobi. To Kakashi, he is now seeing how much the journey did and changed Sasuke for the better; be more opened and emotional in the presence of others.

"Sasuke… What's redemption to you?"

"…"

"Sa…"

Sasuke's sudden words stopped the Hokage. "…what is …love actually?"

"…!?" Kakashi's mind went blank. It would be the first time for this aloof student of his to be asking him questions outside shinobi-related. To see that hard shell cracking bit by bit behind its true nature, Kakashi listened patiently to his next words.

"_Could he be…?_"

"That feeling…is a fragment that I lost in the past and I can't seem to remember how it feels like. Sometimes, I feel that I should not attempt for that fragment as I have not finished atoning yet and that..." "…_I will lose it again…"_

"What is love? Hmmm, that is a very tough question to answer, Sasuke. There is no right or wrong answer to that. Many would think of love in their own ways and there are many types of love in this world like romantic love and family love." Kakashi glanced at the Uchiha with a reflecting expression upon himself.

"Let me ask you this…What's Sakura to you?"

Kakashi impatiently went straight to the main point. The Uchiha was visibly shaken to the question that he never asked himself at all. What is she to him? _A teammate? A friend? Or…? _Sasuke kept his silence with the sensei taking the lead again.

"You know, I can still remember what you told me after putting Sakura asleep; that you're not interested in her and her daydreaming her love fantasies. So no offense but I'm not completely sure of your thoughts on her, even now."

"Despite how deep I plunged myself in the darkness and how much I pushed her to despair, I still can't understand how she could hold such feelings to someone like me for so long." The Uchiha finally let go of his mental grip to express all his inner thoughts that manifested throughout his journey to the Team 7 sensei.

"Sasuke, I've said this before but the only time you need a reason is to hate someone and love happens regardless of any reasons you have. From what I see, the feelings Sakura harboured transcend from a simple admiration to a pure dedication. A dedication where she is willing to give up anything to save her loved one from being hurt. One where she tried to even kill you back in the Samurai Bridge to simply stop you from plunging in the darkness."

"**_That's why I will…shoulder it by killing him. All…by myself._**" Those words from the mountain echoed in his ears. In Kakashi's sight, Sasuke's expressions remained unchanged but his right hand was clenched as a fist, visibly trembling of fear.

"Many of us know how Sakura feels over the years but not yours. Although you may not harbour any bad intention towards her, but…to be frank with you, there are some in the village who think otherwise. Like for say… "

"…restoring the Uchiha clan, is what you're saying?" Sasuke intervened with words he recalled from the previous illusion of memories.

"Yeah. If it was in the past, I would believe it honestly. But seeing how much you changed, that doesn't seem to be the case to me. So…"

"…" Sasuke then remembered how he who was trying to sever his bonds from Konoha, attempted to kill her instead. He could still feel the sensation of Sakura's throat in his hand, burning on the inside for salvation.

Sensing the lack of convincement in the Uchiha, Kakashi decided to approach the simpler psychological way with him "Hmm…Just ask yourself these questions, Sasuke. You don't have to say it aloud but in your mind. What do you think of Sakura as a person?"

"_She's…strong, smart, stubborn... and really annoying…_" Remembering their times together where he first witnessed her true self in the war, Sasuke then smirked at the last word.

"…How do you feel with her next to you?"

"_I feel…at peace…"_

"What comes into your mind when Sakura's with other men?"

"…_I don't…No… I'll skew that bastard…_" Sasuke thought with great disgust and jealousy after imagining Sakura laughing with another person's arms and remembering the conversation in Ichiraku Ramen and the illusions earlier on.

"After your first answer, what comes into your mind when Sakura's in danger?"

"_I…must save her._" Memories of him saving her notably during their first Chunin Exams from Orochimaru and Gaara and the feelings emerged through those actions began compiling each other in his core.

"Why did you think of that answer?"

"…_don't …want to lose her…_" Sasuke thought as he reminisced the time when he told Naruto to save Sakura from Gaara for the same reason but on a different basis.

"How do you feel when you see her smile?"

With his eyes closed, he saw Sakura turning around, facing him with a soft smile, the unchanged kindness that pleased him deeply. The same grace that always at its doorstep, stopping him from pursuing the dark path, which he eventually ignored last time. Collecting his thoughts, emotions and memories of them together, that solidified everything in Sasuke.

"…_I want…to see…to protect…that smile. Only she…no, only I that belongs to her and… I will do anything…to protect…what has been waiting for me all these years._"

Seeing Sasuke's emerging onyx eyes of determination, the pleased sensei smiled and gave his final advice as dawn started to appear beyond their eyes.

"Sasuke, neither you nor I can predict the future. We are bound to lose something in the future; it's just the matter of when will it be. That's why time is there for us to realize how precious it is and to cherish it within that time. If you truly want to redeem yourself, I think one of it is to give an answer to Sakura who waited for you long enough and I'm sure she's willing to listen to and accept your words."

"But…"

"Hm?"

"But with my reputation, she will be…"

"Hm…now I wouldn't call that considerate for you, Sasuke, and Sakura wouldn't like to hear that at all. She might think that you're putting her as a weak person. Besides,…" Sasuke waited for the man's words.

"If she loves you and you love her, so why bother?"

Seeing a flustered Uchiha would be a rare sight for anyone to not miss and Kakashi was glad enough to be spectator to such rarity. Hence, he would never reveal it or the secret to the rarity to anyone, including the Uzumaki.

After calming his quick heartbeat for absorbing that foreign sentence, Sasuke glanced at the floor with a relieved heart. Having someone to listen to and speak to has definitely put his heart at rest, as he never thought of relaying his inner thoughts and questions to Kakashi. To the wanderer, Kakashi would have become one, if not only, adult he could completely rely on, after losing Itachi, for guidance. Sasuke stood against the emerging light of dawn when Kakashi's final words made him shaken.

"By the way, Sasuke, I won't advice you to move things too quickly with Sakura, like what happened in the mountain." Sasuke annoyingly turned to the snickering Hokage, and cussed at both the usuratonkachi and the pale ass for their blabber mouths.

"You're … a big help, Kakashi." Sasuke spoke before he disappeared before the Hokage's eyes.

Accepting it as the Uchiha's new step to say thank you, the Hokage stood up in relief.

"_Ha…Young love. I'm happy for the two of you, Sasuke, Sakura._"

Shizune then appeared behind in a hurry to report two shocking news to him and rushed out with her.

* * *

><p>Thinking of how to relay his feelings properly, Sasuke reached Sakura's house with anxiety making its rounds in his stomach but a small smile covering his face throughout the journey. However, the absence of Sakura's chakra left his excitement down as he opened the door to the house. His eyes then captured two objects on the floor; a scroll and a shiny object.<p>

Walking towards the objects, Sasuke picked up the scroll and a cherry blossom necklace with its hook broken. Knowing that Sakura dislikes disorder in her house, Sasuke was left confused and many things went through his mind as he held onto the scroll and looked at the necklace when a loud shout echoed the house.

"SAKURA-CHAN!" Naruto shouted as he reached the door with heavy breathings.

"What's wrong?" Sasuke turned around annoyingly at the Uzumaki's morning habit.

"Where's Sakura-chan, Sasuke!? Is she not here!?"

"No, she should be in the hospital." Sasuke frowned at the worried look of the blonde.

"She's not there! Damn!" Naruto cussed.

"What's going on, Naruto?" Sasuke asked as he stood up with the two objects in his hand.

"Tch… just follow me to the hospital!"

* * *

><p>After a while, both shinobis reached the first floor of Konoha Hospital. Naruto hurriedly opened the sliding door and his face immediately went into sadness and concern as he rushed towards the occupier of the sole bed. Sasuke followed suit into the white room.<p>

"Hinata! Are you alright!?"

In front of the Uzumaki was a severely injured Hinata sleeping with IV drips and machines around her. Tsunade, Kakashi, Sai and Shikamaru were standing at the other side of the bed as Naruto consulted his wife who was sleeping.

""…Hinata…" Naruto spoke in a sad tone.

"She's fine, Naruto." Naruto turned his cerulean eyes to the Fifth. "Those injuries are not life-threatening and she'll be alright in a week."

"Thanks, granny." Naruto said as he held Hinata's hand softly. Sasuke looked at the couple and thought that he would probably react the same way if Sakura is in Hinata's place, but in a calmer, yet murderous manner towards the perpetrator.

Naruto angrily turned to the two Hokages "Tsunade-bachan, Kakashi-sensei, what the heck just happened? Hinata…!"

"Naruto, it wasn't just Hinata. The entire Team 8 are in the same condition as Hinata, including Kotetsu-san and Izumo-san who were guarding the gates. They were all attacked last night and fortunately another team found them here in time. " Shikamaru stepped in to ease his anger.

"Then, who…the hell did this!?" The blonde demanded.

The two Hokages exchanged glances upon Naruto's demand. When Kakashi gave a flash glance at the Uchiha, what he saw there was…_hesitation_. Silence enveloped the room as the Sixth Hokage replied with an answer no one would imagine, one that would shock Naruto and Sasuke out of their day light.

"It was…Sakura."

**###**

**FINALLY FF'S BACK! Hehe I'm sure some of u guys r shocked at the last name...**

**Again first thing first, wanna thanx those who fav, followed & reviewed again...**

**-SasusakuAV: U're welcome anyway!**

**-f-zelda: glad that u find it interesting!**

**-Natalie: dont die just yetXD**

**-jenniturtlez5: glad u like the twists! There's more in later chaps  
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**This chap is shorter but that's cos I wanna hv it solely about Sasuke and Kakashi's talk together. It's quite hard writing this bit & I actually wrote this chap two weeks ago but made lots of changes to make it flow properly (which I hope it works out for u guys & Sasuke might be abit OOC here). I listened to NS OST 2's Reflection & Fallen Leaves while reading through the chap & I hope you guys can do the same for better imagination, I guess.  
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**Sorry for debuting Hinata in a bad shape but that's how it is for now.**

**So...if you wanna know what's wrong with Sakura since she fainted in the house first then her attacking... we'll find that all out in the next chapter then^^ Til then^^  
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**Please review for any remarks/comments (it'll be great if I could find out abot ur opinion on the story so far through the reviews) & hope u enjoy^^**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to the Kishimoto Masashi.**

* * *

><p><em>The night beforehand…<em>

_Izumo and Kotetsu were performing their normal duties; sitting in the Konoha guard house with their usual attitudes. Footsteps were heard from the sleeping village, prompting the two to stop the stranger from leaving the village as duties call._

_"Stop right there. Under the Hokage's orders…!"_

_His words halted as the emerging moonlight revealed the figure to be the familiar Haruno Sakura._

_"Sakura-san? What are you doing here? You do know that no one can leave the village without orders."_

_"Izumo…Something's wrong…" Kotetsu spoke up with anxiety. Normally, there would be an air of seriousness or pleasant mood exiting from Sakura but the menacing, stoic mood upon her raised his shinobi intuition._

_"…You…"_

_A flicker of the kunoichi from the front to his side stopped Izumo. At the corner of his eyes, the kunoichi was grinning sadistically with a bloody right hand surrounded by green chakra. Before he could realize, his legs gave in as his eyes shifted to the sudden source of damp on his chest. Seeing his partner being slashed across and bloodily collapsed on the floor in shock, Kotetsu braced himself with a kunai before Sakura beat him in speed, putting him in the same fate as his partner. _

_Without any care, the kunoichi swung the blood away from her hand and slowly walked pass the gates, without any care for her fellow Konoha shinobis, only the moonshine reflecting their blood towards their collapsing eyes._

* * *

><p><em>An hour later…<em>

_After completing their task in collecting the inu-zansho in the east of Konohagakure, Team 8 were jumping trees in a fast pace towards the village._

_"Damn…Still can't believe how tough it was just to get these damn plants." Kiba complained with Akamaru barking in agreement._

_"It was only tough for you, Kiba. That's because you were pulling them in an entirely wrong way." Shino responded nonchalantly._

_"What!? I ain't a plant expert, Shino! How the hell am I supposed to know that you should be holding only the bud!?" The agitated Kiba lashed at the composed Aburame._

_Hinata stepped in "Ehm, guys, let's not fight…."_

_"Hmph. By the way, I'm pretty sure Naruto's back in the village already…"_

_Hinata blushed at the mention of her new husband as she was equally worried of him when the team received the news of the illness less than a week ago. _

_"Well, even though he's sick, you're just gonna leave us and take good care of him, hee…."_

_"Kiba-kun…"_

_"That's only proper for her to do it. That's because she's now Naruto's wife." _

_"Hn! Yeah, A wife to cook, feed and…" Kiba's weird look left HInata flustered._

_"Kiba-kun!"_

_"What!? I didn't say anything. Hn?" Kiba smelled something familiar and signalled the group to stop at the open pathway. The three then saw Haruno Sakura walking in front of them, seemingly without any light in her eyes. _

_Kiba greeted "Oi, Sakura! What are you doing here at this time around?..." _

_His canine partner began growling at her, which ignited curiosity among the rest of Team 8. "What's wrong, Akamaru?" He then caught a whiff of blood through the light breeze, which led him to the sight of dried blood on her hand._

_"Something's not right." Shino warned as the insects inside him were reacting similarly to Akamaru. Behind his dark glasses, he frowned towards Sakura who continued walking without responding to their questions._

_The kunoichi in front stopped with her head down and Team 8 frowned at her unusual behaviour. Knowing the amiss, Hinata activated Byakugan and the revelation led to her surprise. _

_"Kiba-kun, Shino-kun…!"_

_A sudden quake had Hinata interrupted when Sakura suddenly punched the ground into craters, forcing Team 8 to jump out of danger. In mid-air, the pink-haired kunoichi displayed unusual speed and successfully immobilised the entire Team 8 with her enhanced strength and chakra scalpel. Eventually, the team was entirely left on the wet, scarlet ground, hanging onto their lives._

_As her clothes were being drenched in her own blood and her body not following her mind's demand to stand, Hinata could only watch the emotionless, cruel Sakura walked away with blood dripping from her hand into the darkness before her eyes closed._

* * *

><p>"…and that's what Kotetsu and Kiba reported right before their surgeries." Shikamaru explained the entire situation to the shocked newcomers. Knowing that Sakura would never harm her own comrades except for stupid reasons, the news of her bloody assaults was a turnover to the two men.<p>

"Ba-chan, Sakura-chan would never…" Naruto persisted angrily with clenched fists.

"Naruto, I know what you're trying to say…but…." Tsunade spoke firmly, along with her folded arms. Even she refused to believe the fact that her disciple would even use chakra scalpel to kill people.

"What are you talking about!? It's probably an enemy disguising as Sakura-chan!"

"_Henge no Jutsu _is out of the list because there're three of you with her most of the time and a disguised enemy could not have walked pass the barrier without warning." Kakashi reasoned first with the angered Naruto.

"Th…Then! How about genjutsu!?"

"Sakura's supreme chakra control has made her extremely resistant to genjutsu. Even you know that, Naruto." Again, Kakashi reasoned objectively, leaving out any personal emotions as a true Hokage despite his personal disbelief upon his student.

"But…But…it's just…not right!"

"Naruto."

The blonde faced Shikamaru with an equally frowned expression "Hate to say it but accept it, Naruto. Haruno Sakura has attacked and almost killed five Konoha shinobis with her own hands. That is a fact."

With his gritted teeth and tightly clenched fists, Naruto mentally refused to admit the truth of his female teammate and tried to reason again when the loud punching sound distracted everyone. They then turned to the cause behind it.

Next to a small crater on the wall, Uchiha Sasuke was standing still with his right fist quavering with anger and endurance. As Tsunade and Kakashi remained in composure and with understanding, Shikamaru, Sai and Naruto stared at the Uchiha with shock. Their shock was not unusual as the Uchiha rarely loses his composure anywhere, until now in the hospital room.

Just when he finally reclaimed his lost fragments, the news made the Uchiha experiencing déjà vu; seeing his loved ones transforming from a loving figure to a merciless killer. His heart began to feel the similar crushing pressure with the return of his memories of Itachi's massacre and imagination of Sakura's attacks. Lifting his fist from the crater, Sasuke looked up with his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan and Rinnegan, physically showing his disapproval to the harsh truth to the crowd.

"Sa…Sasuke…" Naruto nervously spoke up. Kakashi frowned behind his mask, knowing that the news would be a huge blow to his student. Silence enveloped the room for a while until a weak voice had the tables turned around.

"Sa…Sa…ku…ra-san…"

That familiar voice had everyone, especially Naruto to face the awakened Hinata with watery eyes and held her hand firmly, yet gently. Tsunade, who was expecting the girl to regain her consciousness in the next few days, quickly went to her side to check on her.

"Hinata! Are you alright!? Need anything!? Water!? Food?! Any nurse out there!? Hi….Argh!"

Hating to see her patient being disturbed with his ignorance, Tsunade gave a punch at the other side that landed the interfering Naruto onto the floor faster than gravity did to give some air to the wife.

"You're in the way!"

"Na…ruto-kun…" Hinata called out worriedly.

"Looks like Hinata-san needs Naruto to stay down there…" Sai spoke out.

"Well, we all need him to stay down there." Shikamaru sarcastically replied.

* * *

><p>After a round of check-up from Tsunade, Hinata had a cup of water with Naruto by her side as the other five circled around the bed. Relieved that it was her will that woke her up, Tsunade stepped aside.<p>

"Sorry to disturb your recovery, Hinata, but you know how things are now." Kakashi caught the chase.

"It's alright, Hokage-sama. I too want to do something." Hinata responded with understanding as she too could not believe the entire incident.

"So, you said that you saw something unusual in Sakura's chakra?" Shikamaru asked.

"Hai." Hinata closed her eyes to properly recall the image witnessed through her Byakugan before the attack. "With Byakugan, there was a foreign chakra binding itself around Sakura-san's entire chakra pathway system."

"All over…But Sasuke and I didn't even notice a single thing." Naruto at her side said.

"I too didn't notice but because Akamaru was acting weird, I focused stronger to see those chakras, which was like thin threads." The Hyuuga explained.

Both the Uzumaki and Uchiha frowned at their lack of concentration on sensory skills with Senjutsu and Sharingan respectively as they could have avoided such incident.

"Was there anything unusual about Sakura lately?" Tsunade faced the two.

"Nothing much, except that she stumbled a bit yesterday morning. Something about being too tired. But after, she went straight to here to work." Naruto responded.

"Haa…she's probably hiding something from you two so that you wouldn't worry too much." Tsunade sighed at her student's stubbornness.

Sasuke frowned, not just at Sakura's obstinateness but also his ignorance for not pressing her then. Calmly and quickly, Sasuke analysed every single detail like putting a scattered puzzle together about the Haruno; from the mountain, to the village…to the house. Reaching the final result, Sasuke took out a scroll and handed it to the questionable Fifth Hokage who eventually took it from him.

"What's this?"

"I found this scroll in Sakura's house. Inside, there's information about a jutsu called _Parasitic Chakra_ which was used to infiltrate the village in the past."

"Parasitic chakra?!" Tsunade opened the scroll widely.

"Tsunade-sama…" Kakashi said. Sasuke later noticed a secret glance between the two Hokages, which infuriated him for some reason.

"What's this parasitic chakra?" Naruto asked.

"A type of jutsu where the user would fuse their chakra with other chakra and it remains domain in the victim's body. Depending on the user's chakra nature, that chakra can be used as chakra nature absorption or a secret look-up for information gathering."

Then, Kakashi deduced "It seems that they're also using it to control one of us to gather information and that person happened to figure something out which revised their plans."

"But how come Sasuke and I couldn't detect it at all? And when did anyone fuse into Sakura-chan?"

"It's almost a century since this scroll existed. Someone must have improved the jutsu over the years. About the fusion, it's probably from the mountain when Sakura was slashed." Tsunade glanced at the Uchiha who was the other witness of the attack, silently confirming her judgement with his.

"Whatever it is, we have to rescue Sakura-chan!" Naruto suddenly declared in the hospital room which everyone agreed.

"From here to the mountain will take approximately eight hours by walk. Based on the timing, Sakura must be close to that mountain by now. With _Choju Giga_, we might reach there in time." said Sai.

"Hmph, with Kurama's chakra, we'll be there in no time!"

"Alright. Shikamaru, go to the Konoha library for any information on this jutsu. Naruto, Sai, Sasuke, get ready at the gates in thirty minutes. You three will be a team to rescue Sakura." Kakashi ordered sternly.

"Understood." All except the Uchiha shouted agreeably towards the order.

Sai and Shikamaru rushed out of the room, followed by Naruto after he bidden farewell to Hinata. Sasuke walked out of the room in a fast pace before the Sixth Hokage called him out with the Senju next to him.

"Sasuke, come with me for a while."

The Hokages walked towards the corner of the corridor, followed by the impatient Uchiha.

* * *

><p>"What is it, Kakashi? We don't have time for this." The onyx-eyed shinobi demanded for an answer as time was running out for him to save Sakura from whatever awaits in the mountain.<p>

"There's something you need to know about that mountain, Sasuke. It's something that Tsunade-sama discovered in the Senju Residence and she already explained it to Shikamaru and Sai just now."

"What about the dobe?"

"He's too hasty to listen to everything. Sai will probably explain it to him." Kakashi then gave the position of speech to Tsunade.

"So you knew something beforehand." Sasuke emphasized with the earlier secret glance between the Hokages.

"We weren't sure until you passed us the scroll. That confirms our speculations."

"What is it that you want to talk about?"

Tsunade began "First of all, that mountain is where a shinobi named Asakura Yujo was sealed by the First Hokage's wife and my grandmother, Uzumaki Mito."

"Asakura Yujo?" Sasuke repeated.

"That man was the last of the Asakura clan in using parasitic chakra effectively and a dangerous enemy to the Senju and Uzumaki clan before Konohagakure was created. Because of his abilities, the Senju and Uzumaki clans joined forces to defeat and seal him there."

"Why didn't they kill him then?"

"At that time, the Senju was also preoccupied with the opposition of the Uchiha clan. With the lack of manpower, fuinjutsu was the only option but that's not the main point. It seems that despite the seal being weakened over time, Yujo is getting very impatient enough to kidnap Sakura."

"What are you trying to say here?"

Tsunade frowned "Uchiha, the seal on Yujo is an unbreakable fuinjutsu that absorbs the user's chakra upon casting in exchange of its duration to be weakened in the future. When this fuinjutsu was performed, Uzumaki Mito used all of her chakra reserves in her Yin seal, which left her at a near-death state. She however managed to survive probably because of the Uzumaki longevity."

_Near-death state. _The unsettling feeling kicked in. He knew where this conversation is going and he did not and wished not to hear it but he did. All he could do was to brace himself towards Tsunade's words.

"To break the fuinjutsu, one must match the remaining chakra needed for the remaining duration of the seal. If I'm not wrong, Yugo is going to have Sakura to release the fuinjutsu by releasing her Yin seal by force and that must not happen at all cost."

The word _force-releasing _rose Sasuke's attention_. _Remembering Yin-seal being released and its markings covering Sakura in the Fourth War, a sudden thought reignited in his head as he recalled Sakura quickly recovered from a stab wound from Madara. The realization came across; something great must be sacrificed to achieve such feat and his curiosity was killing him for the danger of that sacrificial. Sasuke turned his mismatched, stern eyes to the unwavering Fifth Hokage.

"What is this Yin seal?"

Not wanting to explain anymore, Tsunade released her folded arms and began walking from the two men "That is something that can be explained another time. Right now, you should be moving to the gates."

Tsunade walked towards the other side but a chokuto was held up to her chest level, blocking her pathway of escape from the Uchiha's demands. The two exchanged glances with the onyx's refusal to back out for answers. Knowing that Sakura would loath for anyone to know too much, but as her master, Tsunade gave in and faced the Uchiha with a serious stare.

At the side, Kakashi could only look at the unsettling scene between the blond and black-haired shinobis and wait for the outcome, as he seemingly knew the side-effects upon his predecessor during Pain's attack.

"_Sasuke…_"

"Uchiha, the Yin-Seal is a kinjutsu that requires great chakra control to store chakra at one point and its release will strengthen the user and instantly heal any wounds at the cost of the user's life span."

"_At the cost of the life span... And Sakura was willing to learn that...!_" "Does she know about that?" Sasuke glared at the Hokage, despised the woman for a moment for teaching such a reckless jutsu to his precious one.

"Even if I don't tell her, that student of mine would figure it out anyway. Sakura's not that of an ignorant girl to not know the consequences or a coward to avoid any risk. She knew and embraced them all when she released the seal during the war." Tsunade ruthlessly realized the true fact about her disciple.

"What happens if someone releases the seal by force?" Sasuke firmly asked.

"Releasing by force, by all means, breaking the chakra control will have that stored chakra to instantly burst in the user's body. That burst will then kill the user eventually. You could say that it is similar, yet opposite to the Bijuu extraction from a jinchuuriki."

Finally, the answer came out. Tsunade looked up to the Uchiha for any slight reaction. The only reaction was the Uchiha lowering his chokuto and walking towards an open window behind Kakashi. Eyes were on him who then voiced out a calm declaration in the Uchiha way.

"Sakura will be back here alive. It's a definite."

The wanderer immediately leapt his way towards the gates through the window, leaving the wind to breeze through the stunned adults. Kakashi's shocked eyes returned to their aloof, proud eyes towards the dark silhouette that was minimising in the sky.

"_You really can't say that you'll definitely save Sakura, can you?_"

"Hmph, trying to act cool to the end…" Tsunade chuckled at the Uchiha's behaviour which was deemed bizarre in that mood of environment. However, she knew from that point on, there were a fiery determination and an unspoken attachment blossoming in the youngster which she need not ask at all.

* * *

><p>Within the swordsman Gojou's sight, a pink haired kunoichi was staggering emotionless along the pathway towards the mountain. The man named Fuga stood behind him, displaying his silver sight towards the kunoichi.<p>

"Looks like our little spy has returned. Go according to plan, Fuga."

The young magenta-haired man spoke "However, it seems that the Konoha rats have found us out, Gojou-san."

"Those rats aren't going to halt the master's awakening. Pass on your chakra to Nana for battle."

"Understood."

"The awakening ceremony for the master shall move on without fail." Gojou's sinister golden eyes and Fuga's menacing smirk reflected upon their master plan as Haruno Sakura slowly entered the dark cave where Team 7 first entered in the beginning.

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**Once again, thanx guys for favoring, following & reviewing^^ I really appreciate them, especially the reviews where I get to know ur thoughts about the story.  
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**So this is where Sasuke knew the risk behind the Yin Seal in a harsh matter if u wanna see it that way. I wanna have a part for this guy to know the lengths this girl has gone through to chase him & become stronger, even if she has to give up part of her lifespan.**

**The race begins now; between the Asakura group, Konoha and Sakura. But there's still more to come later on!**

**So, til then^^ Pls review for me to know ur comments about the chap & story so far!**

**Hope you guys enjoy^^**

**Btw, those who don't know what's Henge no Jutsu; it's Transformation Technique...**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto Masashi.**

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><p>Surrounded by ancient scrolls and books of history, Nara Shikamaru was browsing through those shelves of books. The only action he exhibited in the Konoha library was just a sigh, reflecting his disappointment at every scroll opened and rolled for closure. It appeared that only the scroll found in Sakura's house has the information on the parasitic chakra, other than the one in the Senju Residence. His eyes were about to bulge out from their sockets with the excessive reading and stress going on in his head.<p>

"Ara, Shikamaru?"

The call had the Nara turned to his right side to see his blonde teammate with a book in her hand.

"Ino? What're you doing here?"

"Researching about the illness. You too?"

"Well, you could say that." Shikamaru scratched his head, contemplating whether the Yamanaka knew about the two attacks done by her friend. However, all were laid rest by her next words.

"I heard everything about Sakura, Shikamaru." Ino spoke up, thinking that she should at least let the guy know about her knowledge.

"Is that so…" Shikamaru muttered under his breath.

Ino looked down to the floor with the sudden news flashed through her mind. Earlier in the morning, she was opening her family shop Yamanaka Hana when Sai landed smoothly behind her. Initially pleased by his appearance, Ino was overwhelmed when the artist relayed the news on Sakura and his mission to her quickly before his departure. As much as she wanted to run towards the gates with him to rescue her best friend, she knew that she might be a burden and instead took on Sakura's burden and side to find the cure in the Konoha library as a start.

With his blonde friend glancing through books, Shikamaru kept quiet as he continued searching in the shelf. With Ino's specialization in mind-related jutsus, he realized something and frowned with his left hand placed on his chin, fitting all the information he had upon that realization. Ino noticed that habit of him and asked out of concern.

"What's wrong, Shikamaru?"

"Something doesn't add up."

"…?" Ino kept her mouth close to listen to the Nara without any interruption.

"From the report, the enemy appeared to have remorse against Uzumaki Mito and Konoha and mistook Sakura as her. He however stopped his attack when Sasuke appeared." Shikamaru muttered with his body facing the shelf.

"Wouldn't it be that he thought that he wouldn't stand a chance against the two together?"

"That could be, but the weird one is the attacks on Team 8, Kotetsu-san and Izumo-san."

"What about there?"

"If the enemy really hates Konoha and Uzumaki Mito and also was controlling Sakura with the parasitic chakra, why didn't he kill them to begin with?"

Ino's eyes widened in shock as Shikamaru asked "Ino, you once said that you lost control on Sakura in the Chunin Exams because of some will or second mind."

"Yeah. At that time, I had ultimate control over Sakura but I got kicked out by this strong will in her mind. Wait, what does that have to do with this time?"

"Hinata mentioned that there was a foreign chakra around Sakura's system. If I'm not wrong, this parasitic chakra can only be used to control other ninjas' chakra and body but not the mind. Also, if it acts like a normal jutsu, this parasitic chakra may wear off over time based on the actions performed by the victim."

"That means…either the enemy was restraining Sakura to save more chakra or Sakura was trying to take control over time?"

Shikamaru then corrected Ino "Unfortunately, it's probably the two. What I think is that while taking control, Sakura must be watching herself attacking the rest. If all of that is true, that would also explains why Izumo-san and Kotetsu-san's wounds are much deeper than those of Team 8."

The level of shock overwhelmed Ino. The idea of having to watch yourself attacking your comrades without any control on your own actions would be the worst torture to those who care much for them, especially Haruno Sakura. Silence enveloped the library between the two, when Ino broke the silence with a sudden question.

"But Shikamaru, I don't get it."

"Get what?"

"Why would the enemy let Sakura come to Konoha first until last night? Why didn't they keep her in the mountain to start with?"

The question was thrown to him like waves colliding with each other. That's right, if Asakura was so impatient in releasing the seal, why didn't he get her to do it at first? Moreover, Sakura should not have any knowledge about the parasitic chakra inside her. From what he could think as Sakura on that night, the kunoichi must have committed wholeheartedly into finding the cure for the illness. Hence, why did the enemy decided to control her only last night?

_"It seems that they're controlling one of our people to gather information and that person happened to figure something out which revised their plans."_

The Nara then recalled Kakashi's words back in the hospital room with Hinata, Tsunade and Team 7. _To gather information, something out which revised their plans._ Shikamaru found the final puzzle in his mind.

"_THE SCROLL!"_

"Damn it! To think I missed it just there!" Shikamaru shouted, slapping his hand onto the shelf for his cluelessness and ignorance on the most obvious clue existed in the scenario. The Yamanaka only watched the Nara's action without any clue of his thoughts.

"Did you found something out?"

"Ino, relay this to Tsunade-sama. I'll relay the same to Hokage-sama! Hurry!"

After relaying his thoughts clearly in a fast pace, Shikamaru ran out of the Konoha library along with Ino to relay what would be the most important clue of the entire mystery to the Hokages.

* * *

><p><em>"Where am I?"<em>

_After the sudden surge of pain, it slowly eased off from every nerve and blood flow in her body but her eyes would not follow her command to open. It was as though time simply drifted within the darkness she embedded herself, similar to the feeling after waking up from a deep slumber. The moment of self-realization had the girl revealing her emerald eyes to the black world._

_Those eyes glanced over to find her entire body being surrounded by vines, with their roughness irked her to the point of shock and fear. With her senses and intuition, it was neither reality nor genjutsu that was interfering. Everything was happening in her own mind, her consciousness. She closed her eyes with a frown of concentration to hopefully escape that disgusting pit. Instead of disappearing itself, the dark vines tightened itself around her body with Sakura starting to rely on force this time. _

_Voices began to enter her range. She looked forth to see Izumo and Kotetsu questioning her in wary at the Konoha gates. _

_"Sakura-san? What are you doing here? You do know that no one can leave the village without orders?"_

_Since when did she reach there? Why are they looking at her like that? For a second there, she could feel herself channelling chakra into her right hand but it was not her intention to do so. _

_At a blink of an eye, Sakura then found Izumo on her left side. She became aware that she was giving a sadistic grin without her knowledge and the wet sensation on her hand. With the metallic smell identifying itself to Sakura's senses, her 'eyes' watched Izumo collapsed onto the bloody ground and Kotetsu taking a kunai out towards her._

_"Wait! What…is this?! Stop!"_

_It was too late when she again saw the same scenario with Kotetsu bleeding on the ground._

_"I need to stop the bleeding! Why…aren't my legs moving to them?!"_

_Opposed to her thoughts, her legs pointed towards the direction outside the gates. The vines again tightened themselves around Sakura. How could it be? Here she is, watching herself walking away from her injured comrades while her 'legs' are being tied._

_Sakura's struggles against the vines continued over time. Somehow, the vines loosened their grips around her body, allowing the pink kunoichi to free only her right hand. While she was trying to break free with her free limb, a familiar voice turned her attention towards the owner._

_"Oi, Sakura! What are you doing here at this time around?"_

_Again, the same surge of chakra in her hand appeared which let Sakura to raise her unheard voice "No. Run, everyone!"_

_Her sight brought her to see her own body moving on its own, punching the ground to craters and preparing to do the same to Team 8. With her mind and strength onto her free hand, the kunoichi managed to hold back from delivering greater injuries to Kiba, Akamaru, Shino and Hinata. However, seeing the way she wounded her comrades struck her greatly. Her emerald eyes were shaken almost to tears and her lips were trembling in fear._

_"What...am I doing? Why…I can't stop myself…"_

_The moment her mind was shaken to negative emotions, the vines tightened themselves again, this time suffocating her out of 'air'. Struggling from the tight grip, Sakura began to lose her consciousness and eventually surrendered herself to the darkness once again._

* * *

><p>Flying across the green horizon, three ink birds glided against the wind towards their ultimate destination. With the addition of Kurama's chakra in Sai's Choju Giga, the chakra accelerated twice the normal speed, having the shinobis to reach in two hours. However, the men were not letting their guards down Sakura might have reached the mountain as well and there are no signs of an enemy.<p>

"Anything, Naruto?" Sai shouted out to the Senjutsu user.

"I just felt Sakura-chan's chakra just now but it suddenly disappeared."

"There must be a sealing jutsu activated inside the mountain to prevent any chakra leakage, which I think why senjutsu did not work the last time we were here, Naruto." Sai remarked as he felt strange about the scattered sealing marks on the walls he saw previously.

On flight, Sasuke was keeping his dojutsu onto the mountain. Thinking that he should cast Chidori all over his body to penetrate through the mountain, he stood up on the bird. Without holding back, Sasuke had his mode of transport to descend from the sky as a free fall, shocking the other two with his actions.

"Teme wait!"

Before they realized, green giant vines pierced through the rocky peak, quickly stabbing and swinging around the air to wear off their aerial invaders. The vines managed to pierce the ink birds, exposing the three shinobis in mid-air. However, all attack failed at their attempts.

Onto a giant vine striking next to him, Naruto stepped on and leapt strongly to the next. Sai on the other hand took his tanto out to stab and cut through the vines for a proper foothold. A purple glowing arm clutched one of the vines as leverage for the Uchiha to dodge and took it as his footing as well. There, all three quickly slid along the lengths, into the chinks created. The outcome of their landing led them into a large cavern. To Sasuke's realization, it was similar to the one he and Sakura were, but with giant plants in the surroundings.

"Is everyone alright?" Naruto shouted out of concern.

"Yeah." Sai answered while Sasuke nodded.

"What the heck was that?"

"That, my friend, are my fellow pets." A female voice echoed in the cavern, turning the shinobis' attention to the owner who was standing at the opposing end from them.

A woman with a bob-style black hair was sending her glares with her golden eyes while sitting in a giant vine in mid-air. Donning a green, short kimono with open shoulders and grey tights, the woman gave a smirk which somehow taunted Naruto into his usual first action towards any enemy at sight.

"Who the hell are you?!"

The woman softly stroked the plant next to her "You can remember me as Nana, before your pitiful deaths here, Konoha shinobis."

"You bitch! Where's Sakura-chan!?" Not only Naruto's shout, Sai's frown and Sasuke's glare emphasized the blonde's demand against the female enemy.

Nana however giggled "That girl is called Sakura? How befitting…for our master to trample a life out of a weak flower."

Naruto glared at her before "You…"

"But be grateful, in a moment so, her dead body will serve a good meal for my beloved pets." Nana smirked as a giant bud opened up viciously to reveal jagged teeth among the petals with a screech. Such remark disgusted the Konoha comrades. Naruto created a _kage bunshin_ when a stomp of anger and further screeching rang throughout the cavern.

Startled, the female plant master turned to the direction of the screech and a sudden heatwave. To her eyes, the giant bud was swaying back and forth in screeches of pain as black flames slowly consumed its remaining. Nana then faced the perpetrator with grudge who did not seem to regret his actions.

"Onore…! How dare you, you Uchiha mongrel?!"

Ignoring her curse, the Uchiha merely stepped forth with his Mangekyo fixated onto the enemy. Throughout the tension between Nana and Naruto, his patience was being tested to its limit and it all shattered with the final mockery thrown to the Haruno. To him now, any insult to her would mean more than an insult to him and no one should leave that insult without paying for it.

"Tell me where she is before my patience runs out." Sasuke commanded sternly with his dojutsu but Nana instead refused the question by commanding her plants into attacking the three.

"You'll pay for this!"

The vines began striking the shinobis with their sharp ends, destroying the ground where they once stood. While evading his way, Naruto channelled his chakra with the kage bunshin and a swirling noise echoed in the cavern. He then threw his ball of chakra towards Nana with a shout that emphasized the jutsu's nature.

"Futon: Rasen-Shuriken!"

The shuriken-like chakra flew across, cutting its way through the blocking vines. It however missed its target when she simply dropped herself from her sitting vine to another vine, ignoring the consequent damages by the wind jutsu. Once the rasen-shuriken met its surface, the intensity of the chakra within created a large crater behind Nana and her plant minions. With rocks scattered in air to the ground due to the impact, Sasuke noticed about Nana being fixated to her original position. In midst of the impact, his Sharingan managed to spot a hidden entrance amidst the giant vines.

"_For her to keep her position there…that must be the way Sakura has gone through!_" Sasuke thought as he slashed over an incoming plant. As he turned, his glance caught Sai and Naruto's determined eyes. Within that one moment, the three understood each other's thoughts, including Sasuke and Sai despite their lack of teamwork and great differences. They then leapt to three different sides, opposing Nana. She frowned at the Konoha shinobis' next attempt when a pack of white lions roared its way through the plants.

One by one, the lions managed to reach Nana while being dispersed into spatters of ink. With a single thought, the plants followed her order into blocking the artificial animals from further advance. With the spatters of ink initially hindering her vision at forth, a foreign chakra had her surprisingly twisted her body sideways to see a dark cloak followed its owner into the depths of the corridor.

"Shit, since when did he…?!" Nana cursed at she commanded her plants to go after the unknown intruder. Nothing emerged from her back. She turned around to see several gigantic artificial snakes firmly twirling around the plants from any movement. Her eyes then turned to Sai who was in his final stance of painting the snakes.

"You brats…"

"It ain't over just yet!" A shout attracted Nana into looking at the top of the cavern to see Uzumaki Naruto charging towards her with another Rasen-Shuriken in his hand.

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><p>With the success of their plan by using<em> Amenotejikara<em> with the spatters of ink, Sasuke continued to run along the long cave with an ink dog dashing in front. The dog was Sai's ink creation for scout and searches.

"_This dog will lead you to Sakura. Take it with you._"

Sai's words echoed along the run. Just as the two dark-haired shinobis thought, the sealing marks in the mountain may have concealed chakra-sensing jutsu but not the five senses. By embedding Sakura's scent into the ink, the dog could track down Sakura with its primary functions. Redeeming his dojutsu to be useless at this point, he distastefully has to rely on his replacement's ability to find the girl first.

The dash led him into another cavern with more entrance and flames enlightening at the side. The dog stopped in front of him, which Sasuke followed through. At front, his Sharingan then recognised the utterly familiar chakra in front of him. His teeth were gritted tightly at such sight as he prepared himself.

* * *

><p><em>Again, time flew in the darkness. Sakura was laid in the darkness out of nowhere, overwhelmed by the negative emotions after watching herself wounding the Konoha shinobis; her own comrades. The vines continued to snake around her, wrapping her limbs from any movement. Then, Sakura heard an extremely soft sound, bringing in her consciousness in the light.<em>

_"…Na…ni?"_

_"…ke…p"_

_"Huh?" Sakura mentally asked with her eyes closed._

_"Y…..st…wa…p"_

_"I…can't hear…" _

_The voice became clearer "…must….wak…up….bef…"_

_"…must…wake up? Why?"_

_"…wake up…"_

_"…"_

_"You must wake up, young shinobi, before…"_

_"…before what…?" Sakura struggled but managed to open the emeralds to meet the other eyes of the mysterious owner of the voice._

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**Hey hey back again with a next chap!**

**Thanx so much for the favs, follows & reviews^^ Especially my all-time reviewer SasusakuAV!  
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***Akai Seirei, I really tried to think of how these characters would react and glad that it didn't turn out too OOC to u guys. As much as everyone likes seeing how NaruHina got together, I think everyone's more curious about SasuSaku with his stuck-up attitude!**

***Hatsuyuki-chan! I totally like ur first sentence about the movie thing. Call me delusional but I literally imagine my story in the opening number and also NS movie 2 song 'No Rain No Rainbow' (luv this song alot^^)**

**Just expressing my thoughts here but u can ignore if u want to. I'm soo excited for Sakura Hiden in April...but call me crazy or what BUT when I saw the summary of her being an excellent ninja and a big danger towards her & Konoha, don't know why I got this strange/weird feeling that the story might be similar to mine (YES I AM Crazy, FINE!) but I'm gonna freaked really badly if the story;s gonna turn out similarly!**

**Anyway, more mysteries emerging & more battles in this chap for the race. What did Shikamaru & Sakura actually find out? What else was in store for Naruto & Sai? Who did Sasuke & Sakura encounter? All in next week^^**

**Hope u enjoy^^ & pls review (especially bot the story) I would definitely appreciate them lot as a great support 2 the story^^**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto Masashi.**

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><p>While Nana had herself open for being distracted by Sasuke's sudden appearance, Naruto stepped onto one of Sai's ink tigers with its full force dispersing it into ink spills, according to plan. With that one strong leapt, Naruto was flying with another Rasen-Shuriken towards Nana who then heard his declaration of the battle.<p>

"It ain't over just yet!"

Beforehand, Sai released a number of ink snakes to restrict Nana's plants from any movement to create that opening for Naruto. Despite his close-combat skills, he had always played the supportive role of the team, even during their invasion in Otsutsuki Toneri's castle. As he watched his teammate aiming towards the enemy without any chance of escape, a cloaked figure suddenly emerged from the side towards Naruto. Sai quickly sent out a warning to the ignorant blonde.

"Naruto, on the left!"

Following that alert, his cerulean eye saw a fully-wide hand reaching out at the side. That sight prompted Naruto to launch the Kyuubi Mode onto him at instant and disperse the chakra ball at the same time. A fiery orange arm emerged from his body towards the wall, as a spring to somersault away from Nana. Once Naruto pulled away, the cloaked figure with his hand at sight landed in front of the disgruntled women.

"Hmph, you're late, Fuga!" remarked Nana towards the figure who removed his cloak in front of Naruto and Sai at the other side.

"There're many things that need to be done first, Nana. You should know that." The magenta-haired man turned his silver eyes at the Konoha shinobis while relaying his words to his angry partner.

"Hmph, thanks to your 'things', my pets are being slaughtered like papers here!"

The man simply turned slightly to his partner behind, enough for Nana to see his calm side-profile. "That is not my problem. It's yours for raising such weak plants."

"What was that?! None of this would have happened if you let me feed them with good food!"

At the corner, Naruto and Sai were watching the two bickering. With a knee on the ground, Sai was focusing his control of the snakes over the resisting plants while the chakra-coated blonde had his eyes fixated on Fuga. Unusually, Naruto could now sense a great mixture of abnormality in his chakra; like a dough of many distinctive texture bundled as one. He knew this feeling; more like remembered the time Black Zetsu absorbed the Bijuu chakra into Uchiha Madara for Otsutsuki Kaguya's resurgence.

At the end of her complaint, Fuga calmly stared at the Konoha shinobis who returned the stare before the man suddenly disappeared in a flash. That flash was found to be in front of Sai, hoping to incapacitate with a sword in his hand. The former Root member however blocked the incapacitation with his own tanto and deflected it to the side.

"Sai!" Naruto shouted out of concern as more plants began to attack him which separated the two.

Due to his vigorous training in Root, Sai was able to maintain his composure and stance against Fuga who appeared to be a kenjutsu master. When the latter swung towards him face-forward, the artist noticed a change in colour of the sword, indicating a flow of chakra within. Abandoning the initial idea of a simple block, Sai took a side-step and pointed his tanto downwards with an inaccurate right-angle. At contact, Fuga's sword easily sliced through Sai's tanto, creating a small tip for the tanto while its missing part fell.

The moment Sai took a step aside; another Fuga appeared behind him, readied to strike from the back. Despite that, his kenjutsu experience led Sai to flip backwards and grab the sword with his feet, pulling the owner to a strong throw towards the wall. Sai continued to flip until his back met with Naruto's.

"Are you alright, Sai?"

"Ah. Naruto, did you sense anything on his chakra?" Sai pointed Naruto out to his opponent.

"That sword was covered by a Lightning-natured chakra, which is why he could cut through your blade. It's like Sasuke's sword with Chidori. That clone might be an Earth-natured though." Naruto relayed his thoughts.

"Two chakra natures, huh? I see." Sai responded, with his eyes set on two Fugas. Both Naruto and Sai kept their guards up as more vines surrounded the two.

The magenta-haired man then faced the two with his silver eyes "As expected of you with such great skills, former ANBU. Also, it's a pleasure to share a battle with you, Uzumaki Naruto."

"He? You know me?"

"Hmph, who doesn't know you?! Hero of the Fourth War!" Nana shouted out from the other corner.

"Why are you guys helping this Asakura guy!?" Naruto turned to the black-haired kunoichi.

"Hmph! To have our revenge on the ones who deserted us. Our clans were annihilated by Konoha simply because of our unique powers. Like we're going to let them get away with it that easily!" Nana responded with anger.

"But that doesn't mean you have to do the same!"

"Hmph! A guy like you won't understand how it's like to be the last in your clan! Our clans' death will be in vain without this revenge!"

"…Naruto." Sai looked back to the Uzumaki. Hearing those words reminded the two about their once vengeful teammate. Naruto recalled such similar words from Sasuke when they were genins but things then changed for the better. However, the tables were turned around this time.

"And Sakura-chan's gonna die for that revenge of yours…" Naruto gritted his teeth.

Fuga kept his stare at the duo while Nana agitatedly blurted out her bluntness "Ha! Of course! That small fry should be grateful to serve the master!"

Those words finally snapped the jinchuuriki with such provocations to his precious friend. With Kurama's chakra, his chakra escalated so much that everyone in the cavern were slightly shaken by the sudden shock wave. Naruto then glared at Nana with his slit eyes.

"As much as I want to stop your hatred towards Konoha, but above all, I wouldn't let you harm Sakura-chan or Konoha no matter what!"

The emission of the Kyuubi chakra was strongly distributed throughout the cavern. The strength of the chakra overwhelmed the vines that they began to wither to the ground, like they were shone over by the cruel sun over days. Seeing the tides being turned to their side, Sai released his ink snakes to reserve his chakra and watched the enemies' next steps.

On the other side, seeing Nana's 'pets' to be futile against the Hero of the Fourth War, Fuga clamped his hands together to form a Tiger-like hand seal but with his thumbs and little fingers upwards. Noticing the change in chakra and fighting stance, Naruto and Sai braced themselves for the enemy's next move. Fuga then released his chakra to reveal his true trump card to the Konoha shinobis.

* * *

><p>As things moved on in Naruto's side, Uchiha Sasuke stood firmly on his ground against the person whom he briefly met previously. Vivid memories of a wounded Sakura within the electrified dust went through his eyes of fury, before the indifferent greeting came in.<p>

"We meet again, young Uchiha."

There, Gojou stood firmly with his grounded sword, like a swordsman waiting for a desired rival in battle. True to the Uchiha's memory, the chakra leading to Gojou's right eye was blocked and with Rinnegan, an additional foreign chakra was aligning the bird tattoo. Sasuke swung his sword to the side, proclaiming the ground as the setup for battle without any thought of letting his guard down.

"Where's Sakura?" demanded the Uchiha.

"Hm, there's no point telling you that. If you ask why…" Sasuke frowned as Gojou continued "…that's because that sacrifice will be long dead after you find yourself towards Asakura-sama's awakening."

"Not if I get there first."

"Fufu, as long as the sacrifice reaches the altar, it will all be over."

"Then, I just have you to spill out the direction to the altar!"

The first movement has been made. Sasuke lunged forward to clash his chokuto with Gojou's katana, releasing an echoing clink all over. The two swords were shaking in strength and struggle, with their owners glaring at the other for dominance. The two again exchanged slashes, with their echoes and impact to actually resonate in the cavern and shatter several rocks in the way.

"Not bad, young Uchiha." Gojou remarked Sasuke's skills among the slashes but the latter merely ignored.

The wanderer never planned to rely merely on kenjutsu to bring the enemy down. Resorting to the classic immobilization skill, Sasuke had a direct eye contact with Gojou through his activated Sharingan. The man inhaled in shock at the final launch of the dojutsu. From that small moment, Sasuke intercepted Gojou's mind and memories for any signs of Sakura.

_A glimpse of pink appeared and he quickly captured that glimpse with an entire length of movement. In that blurry scene, he could see Haruno Sakura stumbling weakly towards him, who was in fact Gojou at his perception. The girl continued to walk pass him and voices could be heard within his range._

_"Well done, Fuga."_

_"Not at all, Gojou-san. It appears that no one else has known our plot other than her."_

_"Hmph, to think someone like her could figure everything in one go. What a big mess you got there, Fuga!" __**"Everything?"**_

_"Easy, Nana. It's inevitable for Konoha's strongest medical ninja to find that out. But everything will not be at waste with the master's awakening. But, just in case, let me…"_

Those words never end. Sasuke felt to be thrown out of the well, which was Gojou's mind. The mental impact had Sasuke leapt away from the crouching man who was clutching his right side of his face with an evil smile.

"_What was that just now? He repelled the genjutsu at will!_" Sasuke thought. This reminded him of the man who once pushed him over his limits, Akatsuki's Deidara who actually repelled his genjutsu with a trained eye. Hence, this case must be the same.

The swordsman began to snicker under his breath, like a child being found with an unpermitted item. Unamused, the Uchiha maintained his fighting stance with his dojutsu and chokuto in place.

"To actually push me to this point, young Uchiha, I have really underestimated you."

"You…It's more than just releasing the seal on Asakura. What are you plotting on with Sakura?" Sasuke questioned Gojou with the words '_plot_' and '_everything' _being trapped in his mind.

"Hehe, you will soon find that out. But now, let me show you my plot here!" Gojou grinned sadistically before he finally revealed his right eye to the open.

Sasuke was succumbed in shock. Reflected to his eyes was three black rhombuses pointing towards a scarlet pupil in that scarlet eye. Not just the Uchiha, even Naruto or Kakashi would not be more surprised than seeing another Mangekyo Sharingan after the Fourth War.

Hoping to catch him off-guard, the green-haired man focused his chakra onto the dojutsu but failed to do so. Reading his opponent's chakra flow and muscle movement, Sasuke imitated his actions and together, the two launched Amaterasu in between. The opposing black flames clashed among themselves before landing on the ground to create a wall of hell fire between the two enemies.

Behind the fiery ambiance, Gojou merely grinned after the revelation "How long has it been to see another Sharingan, sole survivor of the Uchiha clan?"

The dark-haired shinobi only frowned "You're not an Uchiha. Where did you get that?"

"This was passed on to me by my grandfather who took it after defeating an Uchiha in his prime. As a proof of loyalty in my clan, it has now been passed down to me for the very moment Asakura-sama awakes from his slumber."

"That eye is not an item. It is an Uchiha legacy and it is not something you can simply pass down!" Sasuke calmly voiced out with great hostility. No one can understand Uchiha Sasuke's feelings towards his clan's kekkei genkai. Not only it is a symbol of power and strength of the clan, it also symbolizes the love the clan has and lost in the way. For that to be misused as a mere token, it extremely infuriated the sole survivor as he recalled his journey of redemption.

The wanderer actually travelled to the Mountains Graveyard where Uchiha Obito's hideout laid as his first destination. As he recalled himself laying down for Obito to transplant Itachi's eyes into him, he also recalled the massive wall containing the many containers of floating Sharingans. Despite the relief that none were tampered from his last stay, those eyes may be used for malicious purposes and eventually taint the Uchiha name further. At the end, the last living Uchiha left the place burning in Amaterasu, destroying the last relic of the clan and hopefully putting the dead in true peace.

And same will happen to the present.

Enveloped with the similar resolve, Sasuke manipulated the black flames to cross overground and strike Gojou. Surprisingly, the man did not dodge, allowing the flames to consume and burn him. The Uchiha was aroused with suspicion when his dojutsu had him turned around to face three approaching Gojous with swords engulfed by Amaterasu.

Together with his improved reading skills, Sasuke skilful deflected all attacks from the three with his chokuto on his right hand. When he managed to slashed through the first Gojou, black flames again began to emerge from Sasuke's cloak which he then extinguished with his Mangekyou.

The moment he turned back, he suddenly found himself in a fiery cavern of both red and black flames and three Gojous surrounding him. The one he slashed earlier was in perfect shape, as if he had not fought at all. The Uchiha knew that it was not genjutsu, with his dojutsu and the scorching sensation under his cloak. With both dojutsu and intelligence, he immediately derived the jutsu behind the hellish area.

"That's the Mangekyou's special power, isn't it?"

"Fufu, you are a sharp one not to think of this as a genjutsu. That's right. This Mangekyou allows me to create a domain of flames which greatly favours my skills." Gojou grinned with his Mangekyou Sharingan.

"_Means it's somehow a merge of Kakashi's Kamui and Otsutsuki Kaguya's lava dimension…but…_" "Hn, that wouldn't bother me at all."

"…?"

"I will end this quickly and destroy that eye from people like you!" Sasuke glared with his dojutsu.

"Let's see then, young Uchiha." Gojou confidently remarked as the enemies clashed once again for the final time.

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><p><em>Having to hear such confusing requests, Sakura managed to garner enough strength to open her eyes. Being tied down by those black vines, Sakura stayed still while looking through an unfamiliar figure. It was a woman. A fair woman with red hair tied in two buns, donning a kimono of the olden days. More prominently was this air of virtue surrounding the woman and finally, the purple rhombus mark on her forehead.<em>

_That mark caught Sakura's attention which prompted her to ask "That mark…Who are you?"_

_"My name is Uzumaki Mito of the Uzumaki clan." The woman answered with clarity._

_"Uzumaki Mito?! But…what…why are you here? I thought you have passed on, Mito-sama." Sakura stuttered with the sudden mention._

_"What you see now, young kunoichi, is merely a chakra imprint that I have left behind into this flower." A familiar white flower in full blossom was held out in Mito's hand for Sakura's view._

_"That flower…was from that time!" Sakura remembered the flower that she handed over to Sasuke beforehand._

_"Hakugyokuka (White Gem Flower)…"_

_"Eh? Haku…gyokuka?" Sakura repeated._

_"The Hakugyokuka absorbs chakra as forms of messages or memories of the carrier. It can only be passed down to those who hold a strong place in the carrier's heart, which in my case, to the one who can defeat Asakura Yujo in my place."_

_"Asakura…Yujo? Who is he?" Absorbing the sudden confusion, Sakura slowly collected herself and asked the noble figure, thinking that the name would be related to her present situation._

_"He was a man of threat to the Senju and Uzumaki clan in my time, which I then had to seal him here in this very mountain. Unfortunately, the seal is weakening over time and with its release, no one can stop Asakura from his rampage."_

_"His rampage?"_

_"Asakura planned to use his kekkei genkai, the parasitic chakra to control the shinobi world, which is irresistible at his level. Listen, young kunoichi, his awakening will lead to the downfall of my clan and the future of the shinobi world."_

_"That means Konoha is…" Sakura spoke out in shock as she combined the newly acquired information with the possible idea she thought of back in her house. _

_"Hope is not lost yet. There is something you can do, young kunoichi." With those words, Sakura keenly listened to the words of the past before Uzumaki Mito bid the girl a final farewell and luck for her mission. _

Then, Haruno Sakura finally woke up to reality with great determination to fight back.

* * *

><p>Back in Konohagakure…<p>

The Sixth Hokage was staring at the spread of the village with his hands folded when Shizune entered the Hokage office with a folder in her hands.

"Hokage-sama, here's the hospital report for last night." Shizune started.

"Thank you. You may leave it on the table." Kakashi replied while maintaining his sight.

Shizune placed the folder and hesitantly asked "Hokage-sama, forgive me for saying this but don't you think we should send reinforcement to aid Naruto and the rest? Until now, we don't know the numbers or the abilities the enemies might have. So at least…"

"Shizune, that wouldn't be necessary. The village needs to be protected by the remaining shinobis and…I'm sure Naruto, Sasuke, Sai and even Sakura can handle themselves well over there."

"Even so…"

"My hunch never goes wrong, Shizune."

Shizune sighed "Then there's no point saying anything else. I shall take my leave then."

The woman was about to leave the office before Kakashi halted her "Wait Shizune, before that…"

* * *

><p>Sarutobi Konohamaru was walking along the street towards the Hokage tower to enquire about the missing Naruto. The chunin was approaching the tower when an explosion occurred out of the blue. Kneeling for protection, he then looked up, only to see flames and smoke escaping the windows of the Hokage office. Instinctively, Konohamaru ran towards the scene as he shouted out for the resident of the office.<p>

"HOKAGE-SAMA!"

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**Once more and again, thanx everyone for the fav, follows & reviews! I will always appreciate them^^**

**More fights coming in & more questions... Here's a quick word about the enemies; Nana, the rash woman; Fuga, the calm one; Gojou, the over-confident one. I firstly wanna put Sai as a strong fighter other than being at the side lines. The Mangekyou Sharingan in Gojou is simply stolen unlike Kakashi's case and that's not a good thing to know, especially Sasuke the proud Uchiha. Here's also where Sakura met her so-called-alike Uzumaki Mito, who explained the white flower in hand!  
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**So can anyone guess? What's Fuga's trump card & what's happening to Konoha & Kakashi!? All up next week plus another main character's appearance from the Last (Who is itXD)!**

**Hope u enjoy this chap & pls fav, follow & review (they are always welcomed as great supports for this story & future ones^^)**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto Masashi.**

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><p>The sudden blast had the young Sarutobi to rush towards the crime scene. Appearing at his sight was a male villager, three shinobis and particularly a young girl whose long brown hair clicked into his memories with a name as she turned to face him.<p>

"You're…Hyuga Hanabi! What's going on here?!" Konohamaru asked in a rush.

The heiress frowned at the sudden question. She remembered seeing this boy attending her sister's wedding last month and that brashness of his really made a big scene with her brother-in-law and that dark-skinned rapper. Turning her remembrance away, she firmly answered like a genin towards a higher rank ninja, as true to her Hyuga status.

"An explosion just burst out of the Hokage office. The smoke was too much for any of us to enter."

"That so? I'll go in to find Hokage-sama. You stay here and report the same at any jonin coming here."

Konohamaru then made his short way to the door when a shadow covered the sunlight. His eyes caught the sight of the male villager aiming an axe high up towards him. Konohamaru immediately jumped back from the aim, landing himself next to the confused Hanabi.

"What are you doing?! Step aside!"

Those words were ignored. The villager instead faced the two youngsters with his axe in front of the doors of the burning tower, indicating that no one shall pass him without a fight. Frowning at the unusual, shouts and screams from the other corner had Konohamaru and Hanabi turned to see the shinobis clashing kunais among themselves.

"What the…!?" Konohamaru remarked with his confusion.

The first shinobi shouted at his comrades "Oi, Yatsuo, Ogawa, what the hell are you two doing!?"

His demands were not replied. Only two pairs of dead-looking eyes kept their glances over the shouting shinobi. One flung his kunai away as an opening for the other to strike him down. They would have succeeded if it weren't for Konohamaru who created a kage bunshin to push the shinobi aside and take the stab in his place.

With his bunshin gone, Konohamaru slightly stumbled over the memory and shock of the stab. He then glanced at the rising smoke.

"Strange…" Hanabi finally spoke with her Byakugan activated.

"Huh? What is?"

"There's a foreign chakra twirling around their chakra pathway systems. It seems to be the one controlling their actions." Hanabi explained as she readied herself in the Gentle Fist fighting stance.

"Wait." The Sarutobi held his arm high as a red light to the Hyuga.

"They're attacking us. Why are you stopping me?"

"Still, they're part of the village. We can't simply hurt them. We just have to find the catalyst of that chakra you found."

"I tried but nothing comes in my radar. Besides, it's not just us having this problem."

Konohamaru gasped in shock as Hanabi continued to scan the village with her improved Byakugan. After the incident with Toneri, she cursed her weakness and diligently trained herself, expanding her Byakugan range to the point where she could see almost the entire village. Within the grayscale sight, she could see people screaming and fighting among themselves and that foreign chakra residing in the attackers' body.

"_What on earth is going on here?! Nee-sama…._" Hanabi worriedly thought of her elder sister back in the hospital.

* * *

><p>Havoc was occurring as well in the Konoha Hospital. Patients started attacking the medical-nins and visitors, turning the place into a chaotic madness. After relaying Shikamaru's assumption, Ino waited for further orders from the former Hokage, Tsunade. In her hazel eyes reflected the rising smoke and leaping shadows from every corner of the village. Tsunade bit her lips slightly as she finally voiced out.<p>

"We're moving out, Ino!"

"Hai!"

Tsunade and Ino rushed out of the former's office when a group of patients blocked their pathway. At annoyance, Tsunade grabbed one's neck and threw him against the others, like a bowling ball. Startled by her actions, Ino voiced out her concerns.

"Ano…Tsunade-sama, aren't you going to hurt them more?"

"Hmph, if what you told me was true, then these people are likely to be fit enough for battle then." Tsunade replied with a smirk. "It's been a while since someone challenged me like this."

"_In what sense of challenge are you smirking about!?_" thought the Yamanaka when she swiftly dodged an approaching punch. She turned around and shockingly shouted out the attacker's name.

"Hinata!"

Still in her patient's outfit and bloody bandages, the Hyuga was in her Gentle Fist stance, not a good sign to Ino. She may be able to hold herself with average taijutsu but that is nothing against the Hyuga taijutsu. Ino could only put herself in a defensive mode to avoid all of Hinata's strikes. While avoiding, Ino suddenly met a wall behind her, hindering her escape path from an attack from Hinata. Thinking that it must be the end, nothing happened to the Yamanaka. Hinata instantly fell onto the ground with a needle on her neck. Lifting her sight from the Hyuga, Ino caught a handful sight.

The Fifth Hokage standing among bodies of patients with needles in her hands. If blood was included, it would have been a gruesome scene to see from the Fifth.

"Are you alright, Ino?" Tsunade asked nonchalantly.

"Hai! Tsunade-sama, what did you…?"

"Nothing much. I'm just striking at their acupoints for a temporary paralysis. They won't be able to move until those needles are removed and they won't die from it. Let's go. We have no time to waste."

Ino was then brought back from her awe. Nodding at Tsunade's instruction, the two blondes then covered the entire hospital to prevent any more injuries and casualties.

* * *

><p>In one corner of the mountain lays a smaller cavern than the others. There, Haruno Sakura was walking towards another entrance with a clone of Fuga watching her back. To the unbeknownst clone, halfway through their journey, Sakura actually walked pass a Hakugyokuka that contained and transferred Mito's chakra, hence having a secret conversation with the chakra imprint. With time and chakra, Sakura keenly listened to every word of the noble before agreeing to the latter's last command.<p>

"_Remember, young kunoichi, once it happens, you must end it in one strike. That's the only chance you have. Farewell, and good luck._"

The last remnant of the Uzumaki dispersed itself and cut through the black vines to free the kunoichi. This hence allowed her to regain her control at instant. It was a one moment for freedom and action. The moment the clone realized the amiss, Sakura, with a full mind-set, twisted her body to land a strong punch on him. Unprepared, the punch crushed the clone against the wall, reducing it into lumps of earth, hence revealing as an Earth clone.

"Hmph, shannaro!"

Sakura looked at the rocks, briefly thinking the punch as a sense of revenge for controlling her to betray her precious village and friends. Ignoring her slightly bruised hand from the punch, Sakura made a forceful dash towards the depths of the mountain as she followed Mito's directions towards Asakura Yujo's sealing altar for the ultimate outcome.

* * *

><p>"<em>What!?<em>"

Fuga's silver eyes widened before he could activate the trump card. Naruto and Sai who were anticipating the unknown jutsu, kept their guard up. Meeting no expectation in front of her, Nana indiscriminately threw a shout towards the guy.

"Oi! What's wrong, Fuga!?"

Fuga then responded with composure "The clone has been destroyed."

"What!?" Nana shouted. At the mention of '_clone_', Naruto and Sai focused their hearing on the other conversation as they seemed to be preoccupied by a certain concern.

"I'm surprised. For her to actually break through my jutsu, she's really a formidable one…"

"Hmph! It's not the time to be impressed here, Fuga!"

With the decision to have a clone to find the sacrifice, Fuga instructed his existing clone to move but Sai immediately stopped its movement with his tanto on its sword on defence.

"What!?"

"You're not moving forth from my sight." Sai said as he slashed his tanto across the clone, deactivating it into lumps of rock on the ground. Fuga frowned at the attack as Naruto created more shadow clones with the Kyuubi chakra cloak. Naruto and his clones began creating Rasenshuriken to destroy the remaining green attackers. The jutsu was able to sever the chakra flow in the plants, hence hindering any of Nana's plants from advancing with her chakra.

"Darn you!"

Realizing that her chakra was not flowing into her pets, Nana clenched her fists in anger as Fuga voiced out. "Nana, don't waste your chakra here. Use them to find the sacrifice instead." Holding her anger back, the kunoichi placed her hands into a Rat seal accordingly. Fuga then continued his previous attempt against the Konoha shinobis, casting his trump card once and for all.

The ground suddenly shaken and vibrated through Naruto and Sai's feet. Keeping their guard on, Naruto sensed multiple foreign chakras under his feet. Naruto lifted himself from the ground with his chakra arm while Sai flew in the air with his quickly-drawn bird. Lines of crack emerged and extended on the ground and arms rose to freedom. Through their eyes, what Naruto and Sai witnessed was an arising army of men. It was not the lifeless eyes or their tattered clothes that gave it away but the stench of death revealed the horrifying condition to the Konoha shinobis.

"Are they…dead?" Naruto unknowingly muttered out.

"That's right." Naruto shifted his sight to Fuga.

"My kekkei genkai allows me to control people according to my will, with my chakra. Whether it is to gather information or betray their comrades, it's all to my command."

"So, that means you're the one who controlled Sakura-chan?"

"That's right. With this parasitic chakra, I can even control the dead by transferring part of my chakra into them while they're at their deathbed."

Those words fuelled Sai's anger as it reminded him of the resurrection of his brother Shin. He hated the idea of using the dead for battles instead of putting them in peace. Despite the anger, the artist calmly analysed the dead, one by one.

Most were particularly in common clothes, implementing that these people must have come from the village down the mountain. It seemed that this was the reason why they never came back to their homes. They were all mercilessly killed and used as future battle tools after their deaths. However, there were two males with notable shinobi clothes without their village headbands. The cautiousness rose.

"Naruto, watch out for the one in a sleeveless shirt. I recognise him from the bingo book."

"What kind of person is he?"

"He's a bounty hunter that once captured several Konoha shinobis for money but we lost track of him five years ago. He is a proficient Wind user." Sai answered with his eyes stoned on the dead middle-aged man in a black sleeveless shirt. The man began to perform hand seals before he blew aerial razors towards the ink bird. The bird easily flew to the side. Despite that, its left wing was slashed into spatters of ink, as if the dodge never occurred at all. Naruto extended another chakra arm to grab Sai's waist while his existing one pulled them from the razors. To a normal eye, anyone would be confused of the sudden turnout but not to Naruto.

"Watch out, Sai. There's chakra surrounding the wind razors."

"That so…Naruto, put us down. There's something I need to confirm."

"Eh? Alright." The Uzumaki responded in question to his request but compiled.

Sai quickly looked through the army as he noticed a sharp similarity among all; stitched-up wounds. As Sai carefully thought through every detail he had in his head, the army was not there to wait. Their opponents immediately charged forth towards the two. Naruto quickly created ten shadow clones with the Kyuubi cloaks and the clash began. Sound of punches and kicks resonated in the cavern and their evidence laid down with the dying plants on ground.

Naruto decided to attack Fuga when two puffs of cloud surrounded the latter. Using his hands to wear off the cloud, Naruto felt a sudden heat wave and leapt to the side. A giant fireball beamed right next to the Uzumaki and destroyed part of the cavern, revealing the outside world as an outlet. Naruto looked at the opposite direction where the fireball came from. Two giant red salamanders with black collars stood side by side in front of the other dead shinobi.

"_So this zombie here is a summoner…Then!_"

Naruto immediately leapt forth with a Rasengan in his hand. The salamanders whipped their tails in defence but they were unable to stop the quick blonde. As Naruto was about to strike the summoner who also readied a kunai in hand, Naruto could feel a sudden change in wind current. The Wind-user threw the same jutsu to him but all failed. Once again, his chakra arm emerged from his right hand, extending the Rasengan towards the summoner while the razor winds went against another chakra arm. It was not a complete defence as Naruto did suffered several minor cuts. The feeling of having several cuts from the razors was nothing compared to the swirling destruction of the summoner's body. It was not a heroic feeling that he won against an enemy, rather a humane one where he could finally put someone's life in peace.

Confirming the destruction had Naruto leapt back to his original position, next to Sai who was unusually watching at the side-lines. Naruto curiously asked.

"Oi Sai, what are you doing? I'm doing all the fighting after you asked me to put you down and you're just sitting here like a battle fan. What's wrong?"

"Don't know what you mean by 'battle fan', Naruto but I'll take that as a compliment."

"Ah, no I mean…"

Sai ignored the Uzumaki's words and saw blood on the man.

"Naruto, do you feel any strange?"

"He? No, not really. Other than being abit tired from the shadow clones, why?"

Sai finally stood up and leapt onto a rock where Fuga stood. The magenta-haired man gave a smirk to the artist, who did not reciprocate. As he was watching the battle of armies, he was also concentrating on other matters involving his parasitic chakra and it seemed that the former ANBU had figured everything out, surprisingly to his amuse.

"It seems that you found out."

Naruto followed suit, next to Sai who resumed the conversation "You're the one…who started the illness in the village, aren't you?"

The blonde and Nana gasped but Fuga was unshaken by those words, as he anticipated. "Where did you realize?"

"Right after Sakura's kidnapping. It's strange enough for the prisoner to delay his release and restrained his spy from killing. From our information, the parasitic chakra allows the user to absorb chakra nature, control the user and…to gather information. The most possible reason for you to allow Sakura to return to the village was not simply to learn about Konoha's state. More like to watch over a certain progress."

"_Pro..progress?!_" Naruto thought.

"Well-predicted, I must say. That's right…We're the ones who launched the plague in that wrecked village." Naruto boiled on the inside as Fuga continued.

"By fusing Nana's poisonous plants and my parasitic chakra, I could manipulate the symptoms at will and no one can ever be cured from it."

"Hmm, I wonder about that…"

"What?" Nana frowned. "_That wouldn't be possible. I've spent years creating that poison by mixing seven different poisonous plants without countering each other. It's too complex for anyone to even identify all seven, and even if they do, creating the anti-poison would be difficult even to me. There can't be any flaws and countering one of the poisons will create a reaction from the other six. Even the Slug Hokage couldn't find the cure for it._"

Finally comprehending the entire situation, Naruto "Hmph, it would be best not to underestimate obaachan."

Sai then spoke his self-opinion mentally "_Also, I'm sure someone like Nara Shikamaru would figure everything out before me._" Sai has long acknowledged the Nara's intelligence during the Fourth War and no doubt the Nara would be able to decipher everything at once, or even more.

On the other hand, the Uzumaki charged towards Fuga before Nana leapt forth with a different kind of plant. Having to block his senjutsu-enhanced punch was quite a feat for anyone to do so. Naruto could only maintained his punch on the harden plant. Behind, Fuga then spoke out.

"Do you really think you should be fighting here though?"

"…?"

"Maybe you should think, _am I a fool enough to simply put people on their beds in an enemy's location?_"

A sudden thought came in air to Naruto "Don't tell me you…!"

"Just like the girl, I just commanded the infected ones to attack the village at once. Now, I wondered if they are now killing each other at this state…" Fuga finally gave in to his inner side by displaying a sadistic grin, enjoying the thought of blood and screams in the hateful village.

The two Konoha shinobis frowned, with the blonde speaking over the plant.

"I'm sure they're fine."

Fuga raised his eyebrow at the sudden command.

"We Konoha shinobis…will not betray our comrades…even if they're in big trouble!" Naruto then threw another punch which destroyed the hard plant. The impact forced Fuga and Nana to leap onto another plant. The four shared the same glare as the final declaration of the battle. They all knew that one side must die for the sake of their own goals and slight hesitation will stomp their own on the ground like dust.

* * *

><p>Kneeling on his knees, Gojou was facing upwards at the dark ceiling where flames were slowly extinguishing in the air. With his Mangekyou Sharingan bleeding, his vision also blackened out. Gripping the dojutsu in disbelief, Gojou shifted his left sight to the perpetrator of his condition.<p>

Undisturbed by his dusted cloak, Uchiha Sasuke merely took his steps slowly towards the golden-eyed man. His mixed dojutsu kept their calm, yet cruel glance onto Gojou with the cloak covering the lower part of his face. It only took an amateur's stupidity to realize one's defeat against an Uchiha before the fight, especially when the opponent has the ultimate form, Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan. However, there did not happen in this very spot.

"Wh…What the hell did you do there!?" Gojou angrily demanded.

Sasuke calmly stood in front, holding the Sword of Kusanagi in his hand as both looked back at their relatively short battle.

**###**

**Hi readers! Thanx for the support! Can't believe that this story actually reached 100 followers! I honestly didn't think that this story would attract that much attention but great appreciation, guys^^**

**So here reveals the connection. Illness, parasitic chakra & Asakura. We also have Konohamaru and Hanabi in slight action, with Tsunade & Ino! Most importantly, Sakura's back in action and Gojou's sudden defeat.**

**All on next week (especially on how Sasuke beat GojouXX)^^ Pls review, fav & follow! They are and always be a bulk of support & comment to this story, myself & future stories...  
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**Hope u enjoy^^**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto Masashi.**

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><p><em>Blood slowly seeped out of his right eye with the cast of the Mangekyou's special jutsu. With his chakra and mind focused as one, the fiery red and yellow started burning through the rocks and craters of the cavern. At its completion, Gojou immediately formed several hand seals. The burning walls began showering the cavern with a rain of blaze targeting the Uchiha who showed no sign of resistance. At the point of collision, everything detonated with smoke and fire in the air.<em>

_Initially grinning at his success, Gojou then realized the gradual appearance of a purple armour coming into view among the thinning diffusion of smoke. Behind that translucent figure, the Uchiha showed the calm demeanour with his red and lily purple eyes retaining their intense, yet little ignorant stares upon the enemy._

_Those stares hit a nerve in Gojou which led his three clones to charge with their swords. At the discharge of Susanoo, Sasuke took on the three with his improved kenjutsu, properly holding himself against them with his refined reflex. With each sustaining every slash, the clones quickly diffused into flames. With the final slash positioning him with the chokuto at his back, Sasuke again stood with such composure and that red dojutsu ignited great remorse in Gojou. The swordsman launched another round of Fire clones and rain upon the Uchiha. The moment he thought of the scene to be déjà vu, a sharp stab of pain and pressure pressed against his right eye. The excruciating pain weakened Gojou's knees to the ground and released a slow moan of pain from his throat._

_"Wha…!? My…chakra! Why am I so drained at this point? Wha…!? Why? How?!"_

"It's all my doing."

The deep voice stopped that bewildering hyperventilation and tiled Gojou's head to see his surroundings with his only visible left eye. His three Fire clones were still there, only to disappear quickly with the burning walls. With all his strength garnered to only drop his head hanging on his neck, all he could see through his left eye was the brown floor with drips of crimsons flowing from his now-blind right eye.

Gojou baffled his voice out "Wh…What the heck did you do there!?"

Sasuke calmly stood in front of the kneeling swordsman with his chokuto in his hand. At a low angle of view, there was only coldness and lack of mercy in Sasuke's eyes. The wanderer eventually broke the silence with the reluctant explanation.

"The genjutsu I casted earlier was no original genjutsu. It was Tsukuyomi, the ultimate eye genjutsu."

"Tsuku…yomi!? Earlier on!?" "_Did he mean…that time!?_"

In his mind recalled the time Sasuke intervened into his memories to search for the sacrifice. To think that he actually covered up a powerful eye jutsu with an average genjutsu was such a feat that only battle prodigies could do. "_No. This Uchiha is truly…!"_

The jutsu was no new to Sasuke. He actually realized this newfound ability when he was ambushed by rogue ninjas near the east of Kumo. He unknowingly used the ability to interrogate one who threatened to destroy the Five Kage Alliance. The sudden discovery shocked the Uchiha, as it truly reminded him of Itachi in his natural affinity to genjutsu. Sasuke then hid it from the world, until now.

In truth, Sasuke actually overlapped the Sharingan genjutsu with Tsukuyomi without the man's notice while searching for Sakura's whereabouts. Sasuke there gained ultimate control not only in the man's time perception but also his chakra pathway system. While Gojou was exerting chakra in the genjutsu, Sasuke manipulated the system into releasing twice the amount of chakra. It may have been about an hour long battle to Gojou, but less than a minute passed though Sasuke at ease.

At the revelation, Gojou clenched his teeth at his defeat. He slowly turned his golden left eye to only see the gleaming chokuto blade pointing at him.

"Before I destroy that eye, you're going to tell me what did you do to Sakura and where she is?" Sasuke demanded.

"Fufu…" A deeper voice came out. Sasuke frowned at the sudden change only to hear snickering from the man's mouth.

"Fufu…like I said, as long as the sacrifice touches the seal, it will all be over. And there's nothing you could do about it!" With his final words, the swordsman looked up to reveal a dilated silver eye, full of insanity in it. Before Sasuke could pull away, Gojou instantly grabbed the chokuto and stabbed himself at the neck. The man coughed out the crimson before gravity pulled the dead body to the ground. Sasuke stood in shock in front of the corpse, before his mind returned to its tranquillity.

"_What…was that just not?…I must reach Sakura before it's too late!_" The sudden appearance of the silver eye surprisingly gave Sasuke an eerie feeling.

Sasuke turned his head to see ink stains on the ground, indicating the remaining of Sai's ink dog which was likely to be dispersed during the short battle. After reverting his right eye into its primary level and putting his chokuto back in its sheath, Sasuke bit his right thumb and slammed the bleeding hand against the ground with a shout.

"Kuchiyose no jutsu!"

With a puff of cloud, a small purple snake appeared in a flash and lifted its head to Sasuke's knee level like a bow.

"Your order, Sasuke-sama…" A deep, male voice was heard from the snake's unopened mouth.

"Roda, find this person immediately." Sasuke kneeled down with Sakura's cherry blossom necklace in his hand. Throughout the journey, he held onto the item for reasons he could not think of but it seemed to serve a very good purpose at this very moment. With the strong scent attached to the owner, Roda followed his acute sense of smell and directed its master to a dark entrance with his tail as well.

"It leads there, Sasuke-sama."

"Take me to her." The Uchiha demanded.

Roda complied and began gliding in full speed, followed suit by Sasuke. Leaving behind them in the cavern was black flames engulfing Gojou's dead body, destroying the last Mangekyou Sharingan without its true owner in existence.

"_Sakura..._" Sasuke thought with his remaining hope to reach her in time from anything.

* * *

><p>Two pairs of eyes from both sides exchanged their glares in the semi-destroyed cavern. Naruto stood in an open position with Sai at his back, similarly to Fuga and Nana respectively on the other side. From his parasitic chakra, Fuga could feel his chakra residing in his victims and their actions. From what he saw through the many eyes and overflowing feelings, Konoha was in brink of inner destruction, according to the master's plan.<p>

"You…really should not be underestimating us…"

"…!?" Fuga frowned at the blonde who unexpectedly gave him a snicker of confidence.

"…especially Kakashi-sensei! Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

With that confident shout, Naruto charged with a large number of shadow clones of his running side by side towards the two. At Nana's command, the giant plants appeared from the ground as barriers but they deemed futile against the Uzumakis with their great evasion tactics. The more the plants dispersed the clones into mere puffs of cloud, the less the visibility range around the cavern. Within that confusion, the dead bounty hunter was grabbed by four Naruto clones, limb by limb. As the four pulled the man apart into an X-form, the fifth clone appeared from the cloud with Rasengan pressed against the body, destroying him at once.

"YOSHA!" The five briefly cheered before running towards Fuga who was holding himself well with kenjutsu and taijutsu.

"_Damn it, for him to have this much of chakra til now! But…why can't I control him?_" Fuga thought in midst of the annihilation. Earlier on, he had the dead bounty hunter to channel some of his parasitic chakra in his Wind jutsu to hopefully control the enemy, which succeeded at first. However, he could not feel the presence of his jutsu in the original ninja among the hundreds and this puzzled the man greatly.

While Fuga and Nana were being preoccupied with the shadow clones and the hidden Naruto, Sai, swiftly and secretively, dashed through the clones and plants towards his target. Not his mind, but his body was the one that remembered the drill in entering into assassination mode. Throughout the multiple occurrences, he had his dark eyes turning everywhere for an opening; one towards the long-range ninjutsu-relied kunoichi. By reading every movement of the plants and clones, his reading skills found a potential gap which he sprinted across in a single step.

Beyond the dash, Sai had his tanto swung across the unguarded Nana, who did not expect the former's appearance. With the slash cutting through her chest and neck diagonally, Nana stumbled slightly to the back before the final deep slit from Sai on her neck as the final outcome. With a shocked expression, the woman fell on the ground and her bloodstained death reduced the plants into mere wilts with her.

With the picture of his partner falling dead under a sneak attack reflected in his silver eyes, Fuga was again stunned by a sudden message from one of his parasitic controls. Having the silver eyes' guard down in a split second gave Naruto and his clones an opportunity to prepare their fists over their shoulders against the enemy's body.

The impact of such multiple punches threw Fuga to a corner with blood being coughed out and a groan of pain. Naruto eventually grinned in satisfaction and Sai leapt next to him, with the anticipation on the magenta's next move. Disbelieved, Fuga spoke up while supporting himself on the wall.

"Why…How…!?"

"Ha?" Naruto questioned as the man appeared to be talking to himself. His eyes were dilating in an expression of doubt and disbelief.

"How did you find out, damn Hokage!?"

That one word ignited a shared thought between Naruto and Sai, which somehow relieved them about the situation in Konoha. "_Kakashi-sensei…_"

* * *

><p>"How did I find out, hm?"<p>

Beneath the rising smoke and crumbles of the partially destroyed office, Kakashi looked down with his apathetic look while holding _Shizune_ down. Her attempts for freedom were in futile with his overpowering strength, only enough to move her face sideways with her single eye glare with her teeth gritted in anger. Kakashi, in turn, continued.

"One of our shinobis has figured the mechanism behind your jutsu and he reached me before you did. I remembered seeing Shizune being scratched by a patient in the hospital, so I presumed you would have controlled her then. " In those words, Kakashi referred the one in front of him as a third person, not the loud, yet rational woman.

"What?!" _Shizune _replied in disbelief.

* * *

><p><em>Just five minutes before Shizune, Shikamaru managed to relay the potential situation in his mind to Kakashi. One where parasitic chakra was used as an act of confusion and potential Trojan horse and the enemy was watching the entireness through the unaware Sakura. Right then, Shikamaru also deduced that one can only be affected through chakra inflicted wounds, which was a common trait among the affected. Knowing that the Nara's deduction rarely goes wrong, the Hokage ordered him to warn other shinobis when Shizune entered the room. When the woman attempted to destroy the office and Hokage with a long string of explosive tags, the Nara got her in his shadow control before she let the tags fell to the ground for activation. Fortunately, they somehow managed to escape the burns and impact and Shikamaru left the place with his belief on the former Copy Ninja.<em>

* * *

><p>After the entire explanation, <em>Shizune's <em>eyes widened in shock. "_That boy figured everything out, without a single flaw?! I've really underestimated them!_"

"By the looks of it, it seems that killing you is the only option if you're not willing to put down."

"Hn."

After that one word, _Shizune _pouted her lips, which alarmed Kakashi into jumping away from the premise. A large cloud of purple smoke escaped the woman's mouth, blending its colour with the grey smoke of sparks. As his feet found themselves out in the air, Kakashi pulled out a scroll from his pocket and summoned a kunai and an elastic rope. The speed of tying together and stabbing it against the cracking outer walls had Kakashi holding onto it until the rope stretched to the last and created a momentum to pull him upwards in the air.

The few air-flips succeeded in Kakashi's perfect landing on the rooftop. The breeze led the rising smoke to pass through his senses as the Sixth Hokage made a quick glance across the multiple rising smoke and fire from different parts of the village.

"_This is quite an accomplishment for them to launch the attacks everywhere here…_"

Suddenly from different directions, several shinobis and weapons were aiming towards Kakashi at point-blank. Before he could do anything, one shout overwhelmed the scene immediately.

"Konoha Goriki Senpu!"

A strong whirlwind spiralled around Kakashi before two chunins appeared at his front and back. The man in green stood in his usual fighting stance in front while the woman behind was holding out a scroll in her hands.

"Hokage-sama, are you alright?" Tenten voiced out.

"Yeah. You two just came in time."

"What's going on here? Why are our friends attacking each other?" Rock Lee asked out of disbelief.

"It's a long story, but for now they're being controlled so don't kill them."

The two members of Team Gai nodded as the larger group of shinobis surrounded them with _Shizune_ as well.

"Seems that we'll have to stalk some time here for the other side…" Kakashi muttered, implementing his Team 7 boys to finish their business in the mountain as soon as possible in his mind.

* * *

><p>After seeing the magnificence of the Hokage flying upwards, Konohamaru's face lightened up "Hokage-sama…"<p>

Hanabi, in relief as well, prepared herself in the Gentle Fist stance. She then lunged behind the armed villager and struck a point at his back neck. The man lost a life in his face and fell flat on his face. The boy frowned greatly on his thought on Hanabi's action.

"Don't worry. I struck a chakra point on his neck to make him lose consciousness. He'll be out of it for a while." Hanabi said with a stern face.

"I…That so?"

Beneath their feet, little dots of shadows could be seen within their range of sight. With a turn to the sky, a large scale of fire rain was falling towards the two with no chances for a close escape route. As Hanabi was temporarily stunned by the sudden shock, only a male voice had her to only close her eyes tightly with a tight grip around her body.

"WATCH OUT!"

Konohamaru threw his whole against her, hoping to at least protect the girl from the red rain. Even though their minds were shut tightly with their eyes, nothing came about but a strong gust of wind blasted against their bodies. Its might could even be felt from the vibration of the ground instead of their fluttering hair. Once the wind settled down, a male voice took their eyes to see a Konoha shinobi kneeling in front of them.

"You guys alright?" Shikamaru frowned with the question which was brought into relief with the two's nods. Only then, a woman's voice brought them back to the drastic reality.

"Can't believe I'm saving your butts twice here minutes after I arrived here." A Suna kunoichi complained with her giant white fan settled upright in her hand.

Shikamaru sighed. It was Temari who blew the explosive impact back in the office when she just arrived to deliver some medicinal plants at Tsunade's request. Even she was taken aback by the sudden measures happening in this village. That unfortunately has added into Shikamaru's list of times being saved by this loud woman.

"Temari-neechan!" Konohamaru called out the frequent visitor.

"Long time no see, boy. And how long are you going to hold her there?"

Realizing that he has been holding Hanabi face-down, Konohamaru immediately backed away with Hanabi steadily getting herself on her feet while thinking about his heroic action. When she first saw the fire rain, she actually attempted to repel them with Hakkeshou Kaiten but the foreign weight hindered her attempt. At the same time, her heart unusually pounded faster than usual, which she found it puzzling.

"_Why am I beating so fast? Am I…No, it's not time to think about it!_" Hanabi snapped out and returned to the real world. Temari, with her dark green eyes straying across the chaotic surroundings and the wind blowing with great animosity, opened her fan wide. Shikamaru stood up with Konohamaru.

"Another wave?"

"Ah. They'll be here in any moment from the east. What are you going to do now?" Temari asked in her back facing the man.

"Konohamaru, Hanabi, go around and find anyone who's yet to be evacuated. And don't act alone."

"Hai!" Both responded in unison.

"Temari, can you…"

"Just go ahead. You being here will be in the way."

"Hmph, as crude as always. Be careful and don't kill them."

"Hn. Got it. Like they'll be able to even hurt me first." Temari smirked at that statement.

Followed by Konohamaru and Hanabi's departures, Shikamaru also leapt to the opposing side with confidence laid upon the woman whom he began dating awhile back. Deep inside, he was actually pitying those who were about to face her other than being concerned about her wellbeing. The two hence separated with their backs facing against the other but their confidence leaning against each other as one.

* * *

><p>After twisting her body in avoidance to the fast-approaching vine, Sakura swiftly stepped onto it with strength to march forth in the dark pathway. After that last wave of attacks, the pathway further up posed no resistance, much to her relief though her doubts did emerged at times. Her shoes continued to make the running sound with her hands swinging back and forth in effort. Sakura began to squeak the emeralds when her mind took in the last premise in the mountain.<p>

Where Sakura stood beyond was a large cavern with inscriptions of seals marked on the walls of the cavern. After a quick glimpse, Sakura then took to the most prominent feature; a glowing white sphere with seals tying around like chains. The kunoichi nervously, but boldly walked towards the sphere, which she believed to the sealing altar. Looking around, the kunoichi frowned to a certain hesitation in her when a deep voice echoed in the cavern like a great tiredness or slumber.

**"Step…a…side, young…one…"**

"…!?...Asakura…Yujou…" Sakura presumed no one but the voice.

**"That's…right…you should….step aside…"**

"Why are you saying that? You just don't want to be sealed again."

**"Fufu…"**

"…?!"

**"Fu…fu…fu…how brave….yet innocent you are….knowing…that the moment you touch this….will…kill you once…and for all…You…still have a far future….so….step aside…"**

"…and let you destroy Konoha? That's not going to happen!" Sakura forcefully declared but deep in her mind, she recalled those shocking words from Uzumaki Mito.

"_…once you release your chakra within the Yin seal, the seal on the sphere will immediately absorb all your reserve chakra for further preservation and there are possibilities that you will die for chakra exhaustion. So, will you still do it then, young kunoichi?_"

Sakura then looked up with burning emeralds with a sudden recall of Konoha "_If I don't do this, Asakura will control everyone in destroying Konoha. If that happens, Naruto won't be able to fulfil his dream of being a Hokage and…Sasuke-kun will lose that one place that he could call 'home'. And I can't let that happen, even if I have to put my own life at stake! No one can do it other than me.!_"

The kunoichi earnestly formed a Tiger seal in releasing her Yin seal before placing her hands onto the white sphere. The moment Sakura gave a slight push of her chakra into a certain part, a continuous string of flow was felt from her forehead, neck and arms. As the rhombus mark spread its colour towards her neck and hands, the chain-like seals began to glow against the white sphere, followed by the inscriptions on the walls. The dark cavern was then enlightened by the slight brightness of the glowing sphere and seals.

The sudden drainage forced Sakura to continuously gasp, not for air but comfort. As her reserve chakra continued to transfer into the seal, the kunoichi could feel a sudden loss of a certain part of herself. Despite that, her firm determination pushed her will through but only with her final words with a single teardrop from her closing left eye.

"_Everyone…Shishou…Kakashi-sensei…Naruto…Sasuke-kun…sorry…and farewell…_"

**###**

**Hi ya readers! Thanx for the fav, follows & review (1 onlyTT though)  
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**Much things going on and more character debuts in this chapter! I honestly didn't think of debuting Lee & Tenten in the story as well as Tsukuyomi, but it did^^ At the end where Sakura was attempting to sacrifice herself for others, that's something I want to write about (like her Will of Fire and the extent of her love to Sasuke) PLUS it's what I wanted to see in the manga and anime, which I think it didn't! Damn it!**

**Hope u understand the multiple waves of scenes and hope u enjoy as well^^**

**Pls review as a support to the story^^ Thanx**


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